


Forget Me Not

by blueboxcumberbatch



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-16
Updated: 2013-11-16
Packaged: 2018-01-01 17:27:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 23,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1046547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueboxcumberbatch/pseuds/blueboxcumberbatch





	1. The Cottage

"The time and space continuum! It's breaking!"  

"How can it break?!"  

"Rose, anything can break if it's put up against something strong enough- oof!"  

The TARDIS came to a sharp halt, throwing the Doctor and Rose down to the ground.   

"Doctor... where are we?"  

"I'm not sure... Probably an alternate universe. "  

"You mean like the one Mickey stayed behind in? Could this be it?"  

"Oh, I highly doubt it. There are infinite parallel universes, each with a small difference from the other. The chances of us running back into the same one is slim to none."  

Rose's heart sank. She missed Mickey, and although she'd never admit it, a teeny little part of her still loved him.   

The Doctor strolled over to the door of the TARDIS and opened it. He quickly pulled his head back inside, and Rose practically fell over in a fit of laughter. There was a blizzard out there, and the Doctor had gotten his head and shoulders covered in snow.   

Once Rose was done laughing, she and the Doctor walked towards the TARDIS' huge closet to find suitable winter gear. He shook his head at her like a wet dog, and she got sprinkled with snow droplets. She giggled while they were walking, but on the inside she wasn't in the least bit as happy as she seemed. The loss of Mickey weighed on her heavily. They had been together, and Rose subtly dumped him for the Doctor, even though Mickey had still loved her. He was gone now, and she missed him terribly.   

"Rose, are you alright?" The Doctor could tell she wasn't herself.   

"What? Oh, yes. I'm fine." His question had brought her back to reality. Mickey was gone, in another universe, and she couldn't do anything about it.   

They trudged through the snow, holding hands so as not to lose each other in the white world surrounding them. In the distance, there was a faint glow lighting up the surrounding snow.   

"Look! A light! Doctor, can you tell what it is?" Rose was getting soaked. She hadn't thought they'd be walking for this long, so she'd put on a pair of jeans over yoga pants and wore a single heavy-duty winter coat.   

"No, not yet. Let's get a closer look, shall we?" 

They had to yell to hear each other over the howling wind, so they walked in silence until they neared a little building. It had two stories, a front porch, and a back yard with a thoroughly frozen garden. There were beds of flowers with icy outer shells two centimeters thick. The fact that there were still flowers in existence during a storm like that made the Doctor a bit suspicious, but he didn't want to worry Rose, so he kept quiet.   

Standing on the front porch, the Doctor knocked on the door. It was a quaint little cottage, and there was a hand-made wooden sign hanging in the window.   

"'Miss Marie's Bed and Breakfast.' Oh, how lovely!" The Doctor knocked again, and a faint "Just a minute!" was heard from behind the door. The Doctor made a face at the voice's general direction, and Rose laughed.   

A small, frail old lady opened the door, wearing a nightgown with pastel flowers on it and a thin scarf around her neck.

"Come on in, let's get you two out of that cold," she said as she waved them inside, leaning on her walker.   

Inside, everything was made of wood. The floor, the ceiling, the door frames, the furniture; literally everything was made of wood.   

The lady who showed them in slowly closed the door and quietly said, "I'm Mary Anne, but everyone just calls me Miss Marie. How do you do?"  

"Oh, very well, thank you. And yourself?" The Doctor was being very polite, beaming at the lady who kindly welcomed them inside.   

"Good, good, thank you. I take it you two need a room, then?" Miss Marie walked towards the staircase and pointed upstairs. "All of the rooms for travelers are up there. They're all empty, except for Room 5, at the end of the hall. Please don't go near there, that man does not want to be disturbed. He sometimes makes noises, but you should disregard them, I assure you he's not dangerous. Have a nice stay, dearies."   

"Thank you, Miss Marie!" Rose called down the hall, and Miss Marie nodded her head with a smile of acknowledgement.   

When they got upstairs, they found five total doorways, each spaced far from the others. The doors were all open, except for the one at the end of the hall. It had a wooden 5 hanging on the door.   

"I wonder what she's keeping in there," Rose murmured. The Doctor, in the doorway of Room 2, turned to her. He had a feeling she'd catch on.   

"Why do you suspect she's keeping something in there?" he asked, wondering if she saw anything that he didn't take note of.   

"Well, she's got a bed and breakfast out in the middle of nowhere, for starters."  

"Right." He was ticking off on his fingers the things she was listing while pacing up and down the hallway. 

"And she's got nobody here except for what's in that room," Rose went on.   

"Right."  

"And she runs this place on her own, but she's got a walker..."  

"Right."  

"And just as a side note, everything here is made out of wood!"  

"Ahh, my dear Rose, that's where you're wrong!" The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the wall of the hallway. The little blue light shined off of the wall like it was metallic rather than wooden.   

"This may seem like wood, but actually, it's the same metal that made up Satellite 5." He knocked on the wood, and it made a sound like a soft tap on metal. "It's just painted over."  

"But why would she paint the metal to make everything look wooden?"  

"I'm not sure. Let's pick a room and look around more in the morning... Rose! My goodness! You're soaked! Quickly, let's get you dry and warm." The Doctor hadn't noticed that Rose was dripping wet because they were both deeply concentrated on the peculiarity of the cottage in which they stood, but when the Doctor looked back at Rose, she had left a puddle on the rug she was standing on.   

Rose hadn't noticed how cold she was until the Doctor had pointed it out. She was shivering, her teeth were chattering. She quickly walked into the nearest room, Room 4. 

The Doctor closed the door behind Rose. He took her coat and hung it up on the hook behind the door. When he turned to face her again, he stopped. All she had on was a tee shirt and her two pairs of pants. If she got out of the pants, what would she wear?   

He went to the dresser up against the wall and looked in all of the drawers. They were empty. He looked in the bathroom for a bathrobe of some sort, but there was nothing of the kind. When he went back into the bedroom, he found Rose sitting on a rocking chair in the corner of the room with her arms around herself. She smiled at him when he entered.

"Uhh... Rose," he started, with his hand on his neck to try to smooth over the palpable awkward in the air, "Your clothes are soaked, and there are none in here. I can't let you sleep in that wet outfit, so I'm going to give you my coat for the night, okay?"  

Rose's brow had furrowed, and she looked herself over. "Oh... I guess you're right. Okay, then."   

The Doctor, still feeling weird about things, took off his long jacket and handed it to her. "Here," he said, "go into the bathroom and change. I'll stay right here."  

Rose smiled at his discomfort, took the coat, and shuffled to the bathroom. The Doctor didn't know what to do. She had to sleep, and the rocking chair was all wet from when Rose was sitting on it, so he couldn't sleep there. If he wanted to relax comfortably, he would have to get into the bed. With Rose.   

She appeared from the bathroom in just the coat that the Doctor always wore over his suit. She was holding it shut, even though all of the buttons were fastened. She walked over to the bed, pulled back the blankets, and sat down. She swung her legs up so that they were under the blankets, and she leaned her back against the pillows.   

She wasn't sure of what to do either. Sure, she liked the Doctor, but what could possibly happen? He seemed to love her, but he never even kissed her. Sleeping in the same room, the same bed as him, was a little bit weird. She noticed that he was still standing by the door, staring at her with mixed emotions showing on his face.

"Well?" she asked. "Aren't you going to come sit?"  

Slowly, the Doctor made his way across the room to the other side of the bed. He sat on the very edge, barely on the bed at all. Rose scoffed. "Oh, come on! I'm still me. Rose. I'm just wearing your coat."  

"...And nothing else," the Doctor replied.   

Rose playfully frowned. "For your information, sir, I'm still wearing my underthings." She laughed at the face the Doctor made, a cringe of "too much information!" and scooted closer to him.   

He turned and fully sat on the bed, with his legs extended in front of him, his ankles crossed. He smiled at Rose. "Ahh, Rose," he sighed. "That's one of the reasons I like you so much. Nothing seems to faze you."  

Rose smiled and scooted even closer, resting her head on the Doctor's shoulder. "One of the reasons I like you so much is that I seem to faze you."  

The Doctor looked confusedly at her. What was she doing? Was she really flirting with him? In Rose's mind, this was her way of trying to get him to open up to her, to be romantic. However, in his mind, this was a big, flashing red light, shutting him down.  

"Uhh, Ro-" but before he could finish saying her name, she kissed him.   

In her mind, it was wonderful, everything she had imagined it would be. In his mind, it was horribly, awfully, terribly... perfect. 


	2. Bed and Breakfast

When she pulled away, he opened his eyes and saw her smiling. Well, not just smiling. She was gleaming. He didn't know what to think. This wasn't supposed to happen. Yes, he loved her, but he never got involved with humans like that. It was too dangerous. One thing could lead to the next, and-  

Her lips were on his again. He pulled away this time, and Rose whispered, "You seemed to be somewhere else, Doctor. I thought I should bring you back to me."  

Oh, she brought him back, alright. She made him realize that he had never felt this way about a human girl before, and that Rose was one of a kind. He realized that if he backed away from her now that he would always wonder what would have happened if he didn't. He would always wish to be in this moment again, in the moment when Rose was all his, and he didn't have to share her with anyone or worry about her safety or think about saving anyone or anything. At that moment, the only two people in the world were the Doctor and Rose, and he wasn't about to let that slip away.  

Rose's initial smile had faded, and she was afraid he had backed away from her. She rolled back to her half of the bed, looking at the ceiling, lying completely on top of the blankets. 

The Doctor turned to look at her. She was beautiful, absolutely gorgeous. And she loved him.   

He tentatively asked, "Rose?" She turned her head to look at him. She was frowning, and her voice was flat.

"What?" she asked.   

The Doctor cringed; she had never spoken an ill word to him. He crawled over to her so that his face was above hers. He looked deep into her dark, brown eyes, which were alert with curiosity. He lowered his face little by little towards hers, scared at what might happen if she turned him away. He saw her eyes flutter shut, and he did the same. He hovered just above her lips. His hearts were pounding. He was thinking of pulling away, but she raised her head to seal the kiss.   

She wrapped her arms around his neck, running her hands through his hair. He had situated himself so that he was on top of her; not lying on her, but on his elbows and knees, an arm and leg on each side of her. She felt him moving to this position and moaned. He tried to quickly pull away, but she held him tight to her. He decided to give way to whatever was telling him to do this. He loved her. What was the worst that could happen?

***

The next morning, the Doctor was awake before Rose. He didn't want to wake her, so he watched her sleep, taking in her every detail. He was lying on his side, with his head propped up on his hand. He was still wondering if what he did the previous night would have extreme consequences, but he didn't get to finish the thought before Rose shifted from laying on her back to on her side, facing the Doctor. She was awake, but her eyes were still closed.   

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," he murmured. Rose smiled and warmly replied, "Good morning to you, too," without opening her eyes. She snuggled deeper into the Doctor's bare chest and sighed.   

He knew it was wrong and that so many bad things could result from it, but it felt so right. She was the one for him. As he was pondering his situation, they heard a knock at the door.   

The Doctor panicked. "Uh- uhm- come in!" He made sure Rose was covered by the blankets; the coat was on the floor.   

The door opened, and Miss Marie slowly walked in. "Oh, I had a feeling you two lovebirds would choose this room. Biggest bed available," she said with a wink. The Doctor was about to say that it wasn't like that, but now it was. He smiled at the thought, and Rose turned over to see Miss Marie carrying a tray with all sorts of breakfast goodies on it.   

"Ooh, Miss Marie, you didn't have to bring this to us. We could've come downstairs for breakfast," Rose sighed, happy at the appearance of a grand breakfast, but saddened that Miss Marie had to do everything on her own.   

Miss Marie smiled at Rose's sweet remark and said, "It's nothing big, sweetie. I do this for all of my polite customers." She gave Rose a look, nodding to the Doctor and making a face like she knew what went on last night when she said, "You two have fun now. Don't hesitate to ask if you need anything!"

With a little snicker at Rose's blushing, she turned and left.

With cheeks as red as the strawberries that decorated her homemade Belgian waffle, Rose munched on a crisp piece of toast. She wasn't extremely hungry, but she had always loved good toast- it was one of the few things here mum knew how to properly cook. The Doctor, however, was chowing down on another waffle, decorated with blueberries and smothered in maple syrup. The powdered sugar made a paste-like concoction when mixed with the butter and syrup, and the Doctor was clearly loving it.   

"Mmf, Rove, you fould try vish," he said through a mouthful of waffle and bacon. She laughed at his appetite and swiped a piece of bacon from his plate. With a satisfying crunch, she flirtatiously took a bite of the bacon, which turned out to be the best bacon she'd ever had. Miss Marie was one heck of a chef, and Rose wanted to learn her secrets of the kitchen.   

The Doctor interrupted Rose's food fantasies with a question that hadn't occurred to her until the Doctor brought it up, "So, um, how are we going to clothe you today?"  

"Well," Rose replied, "you could be ever so polite and walk to the TARDIS to get me something to wear, or bring it in here so I can go in and get dressed myself." Rose really didn't want to get up, though. She didn't want to move on from last night, and she didn't want to risk losing the Doctor that she came to know so well within the last twelve hours. She thought they were closer now than ever before.

"I'll just bring it here so you can pick out your outfit for yourself," the Doctor replied with a smile and a boyish shrug, indicating that he had no idea what Rose would want to wear.   

Rose smiled and waved him away using a piece of bacon in her hand. "Don't rush," she called after him, hoping she'd have time to inhale that strawberry waffle before he returned, so as to not look unladylike in front of him.   

She wrapped the blanket tightly around her shoulders and shuffled over to the waffle, which the Doctor placed on the nightstand on his side of the bed. Before he started eating, he put all of his clothes back on so that he could properly sit up and chow down, resting on top of the blankets rather than using them as a shield to cover himself. He was so quick that Rose didn't even catch a glimpse of what she had barely seen in the darkness of the previous night. She was peeved by his need be so conservative again, but she was glad to at least have gone that far. She munched on her waffle, while sipping fresh-squeezed orange juice and thinking about how it was impossible that just the night before there was a blizzard outside, but that morning was accompanied by a blue sky, warm weather, and not a single snowflake in sight. 

The Doctor was so preoccupied with trying to sort out the cacophony of thoughts whizzing through his head about Rose that he almost didn't notice the perfect weather he was walking through. Wispy clouds, flowers in bloom, birdsong and buzzing bees- wasn't there snow half a meter deep the night before? There wasn't a single trace of the snowstorm that had taken place, and the Doctor had a feeling that it was all related to the peculiarities of that cottage. Although they hadn't discussed it, the Doctor knew he was going to investigate Room 5, and Rose was going to insist on going with him. No, if wouldn't be safe, no, she shouldn't go with him, but no, he couldn't stop her. One way or another, she was going to come with him wherever he went for as long as she possibly could.

The Doctor also knew that Rose was going to approach him about what happened sooner or later because she was a very up-front kind of girl; one of the reasons he adored her. However, he had no clue what to say in response to her questions to justify why things shouldn't keep going like they were. Yes, he loved her. Yes, he loved what happened between them. But no, a Time Lord cannot be with a human. It's never been done before, and the Doctor didn't know what would happen if things progressed, so he had to stop- for Rose's safety. He had not the slightest idea how a human body would react to a Time Lord's... well... yeah. He felt awkward thinking about it, so how was he going to handle talking about it? He shoved the thought out of his mind when he almost walked right in to the TARDIS, so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't see it standing in front of him. He opened it, entered, and flew ten minutes into the future in Room 4, to give Rose the time she wanted, for what reason he didn't know. 

When the TARDIS materialized, Rose was sprawled out on the bed under the blanket that was also her temporary robe. She had eaten her waffle and finished with a little bit of time to spare, during which she laid back down and imagined what life would be like with the Doctor as more than just his traveling companion. She made up a perfect world where she was a traveling companion, a loyal spouse, and maybe even the proud owner of a ring crafted from the finest gems and precious metals in the universe; a ring that promised the Doctor's love to her for-  

"Here we are, go on and get dressed, we have a busy day ahead of us!" The Doctor popped out of the TARDIS just as Rose was dreaming up a perfect wedding dress. She snapped out of her daydream and back into reality, shimmying into the TARDIS all wrapped up in her blanket. The Doctor smiled at her unique method of travel and fell onto the bed sighing that trademark sigh of being in love. As soon as he realized it, however, he gasped, almost using that sharp intake of breath as a way of revoking the sigh and pretending like it never happened. Still unsure about his feelings, he got back up and paced around the room, trying to figure out what they should do next and how to go about finding out why this little cottage was as weird as it was. Blizzards, then perfect weather, a little (seemingly) sweet old lady who runs a bed and breakfast on her own, yet uses a walker... and that thing in Room 5.


	3. Hisses and Growls

Rose exited the TARDIS dressed in a tee shirt and a half-zipped up jacket, accompanied by dark jeans and trainers. She smiled warmly at the Doctor, who was already leaning in the doorway ready to go explore, and joined him in the hallway.

"So," Rose started, "where are we going?"

The Doctor mumbled, "In there," pointing his sonic screwdriver at the door of Room 5. Rose's heart skipped a beat with excitement, and she followed closely behind the Doctor to the door. He slowly turned the doorknob, not even knocking before entering, and peeked into the dark room.

A figure shrouded in darkness was bent over a table-looking structure that was low to the ground. It was curved inward to resemble a very wide, low-brimmed bowl. There was a single candle in the far corner of the room, which was actually a lot bigger than it seemed. The interior of the room wasn’t painted to look like wood as the rest of the cottage was. The room itself was obviously some sort of alien technology, because the back of the room would have stretched far past the walls of the cottage. The mysterious figure turned from its table-bowl, its silhouette being the only thing Rose and the Doctor could see against the dark background. Its snout was dripping with a dark liquid, and its eyes gleamed a deep red color. The figure quickly turned towards the Doctor and Rose, spread its huge wings, and shrieked, spewing the liquid from its mouth all over them. Rose jumped and backed away as the Doctor slammed the door shut.

Miss Marie called up the stairs, "Is everything alright up there?"

The Doctor, fumbling for words to cover up their snooping about, said, "Oh, yeah, sorry, we were just-"

"He came up behind me and startled me, and I'm very easily scared. Sorry!" Rose cut in and saved them both from trouble with Miss Marie. She leaned over the railing of the staircase and smiled down at Miss Marie, who wasn't leaning on her walker, but was in fact standing up straight, all on her own.

Rose was puzzled by this and said, "Miss Marie, you're standing alone, without your walker! Where has it gone? Do you want me to get it for you?"

Miss Marie quickly fell against the nearest wall, feigning weakness and dizziness (although she had just given away her hidden strength), saying, "Oh, dear, I guess my worry must have given me an adrenaline rush! It's right here in the hallway, would you be so kind as to get it for me?"

Rose nodded. "Of course," she replied. She turned to go downstairs, but the Doctor grabbed her by both of her arms and quickly whispered, "She is clearly stronger than she lets on. If you see anything funny at all," he locked eyes with her and lowered his voice even more, "just say 'screwdriver.' Okay? Interject it into conversation however you can. If you feel like you're in danger, say 'screwdriver.'"

He let go of her arms, and she began walking down the stairs. He had spoken so quickly that it just seemed like Rose was walking slowly around the railing, not taking a warning from the Doctor.

As she neared the bottom of the stairs, Rose glanced around the corner for the walker she was supposed to be retrieving. Before she could get a good look, however, Miss Marie firmly grabbed her by the shoulder and muttered in a low tone, "I know who you two are, and I know what he is. I know what you were just doing, and I know what you did last night. So here's what you're going to do now: Get me the walker like nothing is wrong. If you say your little code word, I'll kill the Doctor right here, right now. You obviously know I'm not as old or as weak as I seem, so I'll show you what I really am, in due time. However, you have something that I want, and I need to keep you safe to get it. After I have what I want, though, you’re disposable. The bottom line is: I've got you right where I want you. Try to escape, you're both going to die. Understand? If you do, get the walker and say, "Here you go, Miss Marie, is there anything else I can do for you?" and while you're at it, smile for me."

All of the blood had fled from Rose's cheeks as she turned and got the walker. She pushed it over to the alien as she softly said, "Here you go, Miss Marie." She looked deep into the creature's eyes, unsure of her chances of survival when she screamed, "SCREWDRIVER, DOCTOR, HELP!"

Miss Marie hissed and tackled Rose, pinning her to the floor without any difficulty. The Doctor had leaped over the railing and dashed down the stairs, but not as quickly as Rose had been pushed to the ground. The thing that they once called "Miss Marie" was hovering over Rose, sharp teeth bared and drooling at the thought of tearing Rose's throat out. 

Rose was shaking with fear, as she quietly whimpered, "Doctor, help m-"

Rose's faint cry for help was cut off by a loud barking noise that came from deep within the throat of the alien that was pinning her to the ground with its body. It turned to the Doctor and hissed, "This is your choice of companion? She is a stupid human, she knows not what is best for her. You're lucky she's holding what I want or else she'd already be dead."

The Doctor confusedly asked, "Holding?"

"Yes, holding!" the alien replied. "She's got the perfect weapon inside of her womb, a Time Lord-human hybrid child that could be trained and cloned to conquer all of the cosmos!"

The Doctor, as bewildered and scared as he was, said, "That's not even possible! She could have only been impregnated last night, so there couldn't be a baby in existence yet, the two cells couldn't have merged and begun to-"

"Maybe not yet, but did you think to be cautious about what you consumed? For example, let's say, a breakfast all drugged with a chemical I concocted that would enhance a human woman's ability to become pregnant?"

"But Rose barely ate anything! Surely a single piece of bacon couldn't have...?"

Rose felt incredibly stupid when she admitted, "Actually, I ate an entire waffle while you were out getting the TARDIS."

"Really? An entire waffle?"

"Oi, a girl's gotta eat!"

"ENOUGH!" The alien was fed up with listening to the couple's exchange, it had universes to conquer. "I'm taking the girl, so you might as well give up, Doctor. You'll never find her."

"Well, then you must not know me at all, because when it comes to Rose Tyler, I never give up."

The alien growled and smashed its right hand onto its left wrist, which held a transporter able to take it away, with Rose, to where she would be kept during her pregnancy. With a blinding light and a sound like the Rift was being torn open just a little bit more, they were gone. The Doctor was left standing alone on the staircase with a fire burning all through him, enraged by an alien who thought it could take his precious Rose from him.


	4. Under Ground

When Rose awoke, she was standing, strapped into a metallic structure of some sort. She couldn't really see what it was, since she was strapped down at her shoulders, wrists, knees, and ankles. There was no chance of escape on her own, so she laid her head back against the thing she was stuck to, and looked around the room she was in.

Everything seemed like it was from hundreds of thousands of years into the future. Then again, alien technology could have been this advanced a long time ago, because Rose had no idea where or when she was relative to where/when she had just come from. She noticed there was a tall, pillar-like object on the other side of the room that looked a lot like the middle of the main control room in the TARDIS. She was worried that the alien had taken apart the TARDIS and killed the Doctor while Rose was knocked out from the effects of time travel without protection (the transporter was cheap and often caused inexperienced users to black out), but she quickly noticed that this particular central control unit was much less advanced than the one in the TARDIS.

As she was taking in her surroundings, the alien still disguised as an old lady walked out from behind the central control unit. It saw that Rose was awake, and evilly purred, "Hello, lovely. How are you feeling?"

Rose, disgusted by this fake act of politeness, scoffed, "Lovely? What, are we good friends now?"

The alien smiled in a way that sent chills up Rose's spine, and said, "For the remainder of your life, if you don't struggle or give me any trouble, sure. We can be  _best_  friends."

As creepy as that was, Rose refused to show her fear, and said, "Well, then, we can't be friends at all, because I will never stop struggling to get out of here, and I will never pass up an opportunity to give you trouble." Rose sarcastically grinned at her enemy and went on, "But since you asked, I'm doing fine."

The alien snickered at Rose's attitude and said, "Good, good. I can't have you feeling ill when you're about to have a baby, now can I?"

Rose looked down and saw a huge baby bump, ready to burst at any moment. She gasped, "What?! But I just looked myself over a few seconds ago, how did that happen so quickly?"

"You are receiving a sort of medication, if you will, that makes the growing process of this child speed up at a pace that is not humanly possible. But then again, this baby isn't even fully human itself." The alien laughed again at Rose because her jaw had dropped to her chest at the sight of her body and the baby within. "Oh, and don't worry, it won't poison you. I need you to stay healthy until this baby is out of you and away from you," the alien coolly continued. It had gone back over to the central control unit and was flicking switches and pressing buttons. Rose felt a sharp pain in her back and let out an "Ow!" while the alien looked at her and smiled again.

"Yes, that was the needle jabbing through you and to the amniotic sac. It's popped, and you're in labor."

Rose gasped as she felt a searing pain all throughout her body. The alien raised a finger at Rose, who was cringing from pain, and said, "And those would be the contractions. I must have forgotten to give you any pain medication. Oops!" 

As the alien was laughing to itself, Rose couldn't bear the silence anymore, and she let out a scream of pure agony. She squirmed and tried to move as much as she could, but she was so tightly bound to the cold, hard metal that there was no hope.

She screamed "DOCTOR!" many times, but there was no mad man and no blue box to be seen. Just as Rose was losing all hope, and losing herself in the immense pain, she blacked out.


	5. Above Ground

The Doctor was frantic. As soon as Rose and that alien-thing had vanished, he used his sonic screwdriver to get any possible information from the area that they had just disappeared from. 

"Oh, no." The Doctor brought the screwdriver closer to make sure he was reading it correctly.

"This is one of those times when I really hate being right," he muttered, lowering the screwdriver and staring at the empty space that a helpless Rose had occupied just seconds before. He turned and went back up the stairs of the cottage, towards Room 4 and the TARDIS.

Just before entering Room 4, he turned and looked at Room 5. He had an idea, and it was a desperate one. He dashed into the TARDIS and ran from room to room until he found his room of metal junk that he kept just in case he ever needed to make something strong, like a cage. He ran around collecting scraps of metal and brought them all back to the front of the room, where he quickly made a lop-sided, messy-looking cage. He grabbed a padlock off the ground nearby and hung it on the door of the cage, making sure that it'd fit and lock properly.

He threw the cage over his back and carried it out of the TARDIS and into Room 5. The creature, hit by the light in the hallway, shrieked and retreated to the far side of the room. The Doctor softly cooed, "Don't worry, I'm not here to hurt you. I need to take you with me someplace so that I can save my, uhm, friend, I guess I could call her. She's a girl, but I'm not sure if she's my girlfriend. I mean, I want her to be, but I can't just- wait, what am I doing? You can't even understand me, and I'm not making any sense to myself either, so how about this?" He motioned to the cage and opened the door. Knowing that the creature wouldn't take kindly to being taken hostage, the Doctor went over to the table-bowl thing that he saw earlier and looked in it to see if there was anything he could use to get the creature to go peacefully into the cage. The bowl, he decided it was definitely a bowl, was filled with a white powdery substance mixed with a dark liquid, the same liquid that was dripping from the creature's mouth earlier that got sprayed on the Doctor and Rose when it screeched. The Doctor bent lower over the bowl and looked even closer, so close that he could smell the faint scent of maple syrup. He stuck his finger in the bowl and tasted a bit of it. It was definitely maple syrup, but there was something else, and it wasn't powdered sugar. The Doctor stood up straight and smacked his lips, trying to figure out what it was in the syrup.

"Ew, what is this...? Aha! It's a growth steroid!" He turned towards the creature, with more sympathy than fear. "You're just a baby, aren't you? You've been drugged to make you grow quicker, maybe even used as a weapon. Well, whatever it is, it's not for good intentions. Come here, I won't hurt you..." The Doctor extended his hand, which still smelled of syrup, and the creature slowly approached him. It sniffed his hand before rubbing up against it and trying to lick it, which the Doctor took as a sign of friendship. He poured the rest of the syrup in the bowl onto the cage, which the creature happily got inside of to lick the syrup off. The Doctor dragged the cage back to the TARDIS with the creature locked inside and began running around trying to figure out what to do next.

"Okay, I've got the creature. Just a baby, but what exactly is it? It seems to have been made in a lab, with the general body structure of a Krillitane, but it's larger and it's got thicker and longer wings. That, and it doesn't want to kill me. Also, is that...? Yep! It's got the mouth of a Krafayis! I haven't seen one of those in a looong time, they're so rare. But even then, its beak is longer and covered in skin. It's got to be made for the best attack from the sky because all of its attributes are characteristics of strong bird-like creatures. But if there's a sky warrior, what about the ground...?"

The Doctor fell against the controls of the TARDIS as he thought of what would happen to his child if he didn't save Rose and their baby. A weapon. Using a child as a weapon. He turned to the creature in the cage, still happily licking up the syrup that had dripped all over the floor of the TARDIS.

"Ohh, I'm gonna have a great time cleaning that up!" He looked himself over and saw that he, too, was covered in semi-dried maple syrup. He looked back at the creature in the cage, innocently staring at him, and said, "It's fine. Really. Let's get you out of that cage, you won't cause any harm."

During its time in the cage, the alien hybrid had grown to be a half-meter taller. When it walked on all-fours, its back came up to the Doctor's waist. The steroid was working quickly and efficiently, which worried the Doctor about what it might do to him. The alien happily trotted out of the cage and all around the inside of the TARDIS, tracking syrup wherever it went.

The Doctor whistled, and the creature turned its head and came to him. "Ha, I didn't think that would work." He bent over so that he was at eye level with his alien pal. "We've got to give you a proper name, because I won't go traveling with a nameless companion."

The creature sat back on its haunches and looked expectantly at the Doctor. "Oh, don't give me that! C'mon, help me out here! I've never been the best with names." It made a noise that sounded something like a screech and a squeal, much more high-pitched and happy-sounding than the scream of terror it emitted earlier. "Ah. Okay. What about Fritz? You seem like a fritzy kind of guy." The alien's expression remained unchanged. "Fritz it is, then."

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver again and looked at the readings it gave one more time. He looked at Fritz and said, "The trouble with saving them, Fritz, is that the time and place where they are is so bogged down with time travelers and changing events that the TARDIS couldn't handle it, so she wouldn't land. We'd either need to go into the past and wait a bit for them to arrive, or we'd have to get there on time but then travel a ways to get to where they will be. What do you think? Wait or walk?"

Fritz stood up and paced around, sniffing out the TARDIS like a dog. The Doctor shrugged and said, "Well, I personally would rather be there early and change my clothes- to properly save them while looking as suave as ever, so 'wait' it is!"

He set the TARDIS in motion, and she took off while the Doctor went to the closet and put on a clean, non-syrup-covered suit. "Ahh. There. Now, let's see... There's not much waiting to be done at all! C'mon, Fritz! Let's go get a move on, maybe we'll even get there early!"

Fritz screeched and followed the Doctor, quickly learning his name and growing even taller. They exited the TARDIS and started walking down a dark, empty hallway that was about to be full of people. They were in an underground laboratory that researched all sorts of things not approved by the government of whatever planet they were on. It was clear that this lab had very little funding because everything was of very low quality. The lights were flickering, the hallways weren't clean, and the windows in the lab rooms were all fogged up and gross-looking. The Doctor heard a faint scream that he knew came from Rose, and he ran in the direction it seemed to come from. Fritz followed close on the Doctor's heels as they tore down the dark hallways. 

The noises were getting louder and louder, and with each step it pained the Doctor more to hear Rose scream in such terror and pain. As he looked quickly at a clock while he was running by, a bell rang and all of the doors of the labs burst open with dirty, grimy illegal scientists filing out of the labs and toward the direction the Doctor was coming from. It was apparently the end of the work day, as chatty scientists discussed growing diseases and enlarging growths on animals and other gross things that the Doctor didn't want to see or hear about. Fighting his way through a dense crowd, he turned down a hallway that was completely empty, with a single door on the left side. Through an air conditioning vent (that wasn't conditioning any air) he heard a soft, tired moan. Rose had yelled all she could, and she had tired herself out trying to call for help. 

"Doctor..." is what he could make out. She was repeating it over and over again. "Doctor... Doctor...Doctor..." Both of his hearts were breaking at the sound of her helplessness. He dashed towards the door, which was locked, but he took out his sonic screwdriver and unlocked it. He burst in to see Rose laying on a table, hugely pregnant, and a fanged "Miss Marie" hovering about her, examining and poking and prodding. He furiously yelled, "Hey! Step away from my girl."


	6. Two Doctors

Rose was just waking up from when she had previously blacked out. She hadn't screamed herself hoarse, but she had been overwhelmed by the pain of contractions and fainted. She was forcibly woken up with a slap from her alien captor, who laughed at Rose's eyes snapping open, feeling a red mark developing across her face.

Instantly, she began calling for the Doctor again. Screaming, wailing, making as much noise as possible. Rose knew he'd come, she just had to give him some time. It seemed funny to her how the Doctor, a Time Lord, could ever need more time, but she kept calling anyway. After what felt like hours, but was really only about ten minutes, she quieted down more and more at a steady pace. She found herself murmuring his name repeatedly. She felt pathetic, and she had never more regretted eating that waffle. Still quietly calling for him, she heard the sonic screwdriver, and she looked to see if she was hallucinating. 

The Doctor busted through the previously locked door and yelled, "Hey! Step away from my girl."

His girl? Rose didn't believe what she heard, but she didn't have time to think much about it because there was a fight brewing. The alien paced around the Doctor, growling and snarling and threatening to kill him in many different ways. 

"To kill or not to kill? That isn't a question at all. The question is how. If I kill you slowly, the girl will be just as tortured as you, which would be quite entertaining, but a-"

"Her name is Rose." The Doctor had a steely look on his face. No emotions whatsoever.

"What?" The alien stood straighter and cocked its head to the side, no longer thinking about how to properly annihilate the Doctor. 

"You keep calling her 'the girl,' but her name is Rose."

"That's insignificant information. She's my prisoner, so I'll call her what I want."

"Well, I've got something of yours, too. We can do a trade. You give me Rose, I'll give you Fritz."

The alien was even more confused. "Who’s Fritz?"

The Doctor turned to the TARDIS and whistled, clapping and calling, "Fritz! Here, boy!"

Fritz came dashing out of the TARDIS and running to the Doctor. He crashed into him, even bigger than before, and demanded a scratch behind the wing before getting off of the Doctor so that he could stand again. When the Doctor regained his balance and composure, he patted Fritz on the back and said, "Fritz. This is Fritz."

The alien snarled and yelled, "You named my creation like a pet?!"

"Well, yes," the Doctor explained. "I couldn't travel with a nameless companion."

The alien angrily lunged at the Doctor, who stepped to the side, avoiding the attack and sending the alien tumbling into the nearest wall. Even more infuriated, it ran towards the Doctor again, but this time, Fritz stood up on two legs and clawed its creator, sending it flying and crumpling to a heap of broken alien on the other side of the room. Fritz turned happily to the Doctor, glad that he could help his new friend, and began to sniff out the room.

"While I'm thinking about it, did you put any Earth dog into him? He's very doggish." The Doctor couldn't help but ask about Fritz's tendency to sniff, scratch, and walk on all fours like dogs on Earth so often do.

"Yes, I did," the alien feebly. "For obedience purposes."

The Doctor laughed. "Well, that sure didn't help you in the long run, now did it?"

The alien was too injured to speak anymore, so it let its head drop to the floor with a muffled promise to seek vengeance once it had regained health.

The Doctor walked over to Rose who was covering her mouth with her hand and squirming on the table she was strapped to. The Doctor quickly unstrapped her, and she bunched up into a ball, with her eyes squeezed shut, except for when she could manage glances at the Doctor.

He could tell she was trying not to scream out in pain, to make things easier on him, when he quietly said, "I'm sorry I did this to you."

She opened her eyes and moved her hand from her mouth just long enough to gasp, "You're bringing this up now?!"

"Oh, yeah, sorry! Uhm, can I carry you? Will that hurt?"

Rose flung her arm away from her mouth and yelled, "EVERYTHING HURTS! DO IT!"

The Doctor scooped Rose up off the table as she screamed into his chest, digging her fingers deep into his shoulders as he carried her. He set her down on the floor in the TARDIS, which immediately took flight without the Doctor's piloting.

"Ahh, she knows where to go. Rose, how are you feeling? I'm going to go get a doctor-" at this, Rose gave the Doctor the look of death, " _that knows more about this kind of thing_. I'd rather be at this end, letting you crush my hands with your grip- did I mention you're crushing my hands with your grip?" Rose only squeezed tighter and let out a small, "I give up." The Doctor was afraid for a moment, not knowing what she was giving up on, but he found out just seconds later that she was giving up on her silence. Rose's voice filled the TARDIS as she screamed at the Doctor to get the baby out of her. The TARDIS landed, and the Doctor pried his hands out of Rose's grip as he dashed outside, looking for help. He didn't recognize the planet he was on, so he yelled, "Help! There's a woman having a baby!" 

A short, yellow man holding a blue bag full of stuff came waddling over to the doctor, saying, "I can help!"

The Doctor smiled, "Good, good- this way!"

The two quickly made their way into the TARDIS and over to Rose, who was writhing on the floor, yelling at anybody who would listen.

The Doctor knelt back down by Rose and said, "I don't know what he's about to do, I've never been good with things like this, so I'd say to just keep... breathing?"

Rose was already heaving and sweating, red in the face from screaming so loudly. She ignored the Doctor, only using him for him hands- something to hold on to.

The next few moments were so quick, but it all seemed to happen in slow motion: Rose looked at the Doctor, but not just a look. There was a deep connection between them as they faintly heard a command from their borrowed doctor, "Push!" Rose closed her eyes and gave it all she had, and the Doctor held just as tightly to her as she was holding on to him. Once, twice more, a pause for breathing, and one final try led to the sound of crying piercing the air in the TARDIS. Rose let her head fall to the ground, wiping sweat from her forehead and even smiling a little bit. The Doctor was caught up in his own thoughts when he finally heard, "Hey! Can I have a towel or something?"

The Doctor fumbled around looking for what was requested of him, and he gathered the things, bringing them back to the other doctor. 

"So, I never asked you your name. I'm the Doctor, this is Rose."

"I'm Benjikalamalize, but you can just call me Ben."

"Well, alright then. Thank you, Ben, for your help. It is much appreciated."

"Oh, it's not a problem, I do this kind of thing all the time on my planet. I’m a traveling doctor, just going about and helping anyone who needs me. What kind of doctor are you? And Doctor Who, don’t you have a name?”

The Doctor squirmed, quickly thinking of a way to avoid answering the question, when Rose rolled over on the floor and asked, “Doctor, can you get me a pillow? The TARDIS floor isn’t the most comfortable thing I’ve ever laid on.” The Doctor gave Ben a look like he’d better go attend to Rose, and Ben smiled and waved him away to go take care of her.

The Doctor quickly returned with a pillow, which Rose tucked under her head before sighing.

“How are you feeling?” The Doctor tentatively asked, hoping he wouldn’t start an onslaught of screaming like he had earlier.

“Much better than I was a bit ago. I wanted to ask you, what-”

Before Rose could finish her question to the Doctor, Ben waddled over to her and placed a baby in her arms. “Congratulations,” he beamed. “It’s a boy.”


	7. Cradle

Rose looked down at the baby that was just given to her. She didn’t know what to think. Just yesterday she was nowhere near pregnant, and suddenly she had a son of her own. Not to mention that he was also the son of a Time Lord, the Doctor, but Rose wasn’t even ready to think about that yet. She still had to wrap her head around the fact that she was a mother. Normally, she would’ve had nine months to get used to this…

“Wow.” The Doctor brought Rose back from the sea of thoughts she was drowning in. He was staring in wonder at the baby in Rose’s arms like he had never seen something so amazing. The baby fidgeted and stuck out his arm, grabbing on to Rose’s hair and pulling it close to him. Rose slid her hair out of his grasp, and the Doctor offered him a finger to hold on to instead. The baby gladly accepted and returned to his tranquil, sleep-like manner.

“Yeah. Wow.” Rose still wasn’t sure how to handle things, but she did notice that Ben was still standing in the TARDIS, admiring how big is was on the inside in comparison to how it was on the outside.

“Well,” he started, “I should probably get back to my planet. Are you, by any chance, a Time Lord, Doctor?”

The Doctor looked up and Ben and said, “Yes.”

Ben’s eyes widened as he replied, “Oh. Then it’s a pleasure to meet you, Doctor. I didn’t think I’d ever see a Time Lord again. Thank you for that.” The baby moved in Rose’s arms, threatening to cry again. Ben waddled to the door of the TARDIS and waved a quiet goodbye, so as not to wake the baby. The Doctor and Rose smiled back at him as the Doctor mouthed, “Thank you,” again, and Ben left.

The Doctor looked back at Rose and his son, and he noticed that they were all still sitting on the floor. The Doctor lifted Rose up and sat her back down in the nearest chair. He then went to the TARDIS controls and started pulling up all sorts of detailed information on human babies, occasionally looking over his shoulder at Rose and the baby to confirm his hunch.

“Rose. He’s not normal.” The Doctor had turned to face her, and she was sitting with her legs crossed and the baby nestled in her arms.

She scoffed. “Well, obviously! He’s half Time Lord, I think it would be easy to tell that he’s not normal.”

“Yes, I know that, but he’s not even normal there. Going off of what I just looked up about human babies and what I know about Time Lord babies, he shouldn’t be that big. He was born a few minutes ago, not a few months ago.” The Doctor was clearly worried.

She looked back down at the baby in her arms. Now that it was pointed out to her, he was big for a newborn. Really big. He could’ve passed for being six months old, even though she swore he was normal sized when he was first handed to her, just after being born.

The Doctor came and sat down next to Rose, putting an arm around her and the baby. He kept his voice low when he said, “Rose, I think I know what’s happening. Remember the drug that was being fed to you and him through a tube? The drug to make him grow faster in the womb?”

Rose’s face darkened as she nodded. The Doctor continued, “It must still be in his bloodstream. Still working in him, making him grow faster than he should. I don’t know how long it will take to wear off. I don’t know what else it will do to him. But, whatever is in him is also in me, so I’ll know from a personal standpoint.”

“What?! How is the drug in you, too?” Rose could hardly keep quiet, and the baby responded by crying.

“Oh, shh, it’s okay. Maybe we should find him a proper bed,” Rose suggested. She and the Doctor walked off into the TARDIS, with the Doctor leading them to a room far from the main control room. When he opened the door, Rose was surprised to see a small room with only a wooden cradle in it. There was some weird pattern with circles on the side, but it was complete with a mobile and a blue cushion for the baby to lie comfortably. The Doctor approached it and ran his hand along the side, like he was happy to see it after a long time of being away. Rose gently placed the baby in the cradle, and the Doctor rocked him while slowly spinning the mobile. The baby stopped crying instantly, staring in wonder at the little planets and stars swirling above him.

Breaking the silence that had settled in the room, Rose quietly said, “He doesn’t even have a name.”

The Doctor looked up at her. “What?”

“He’s sick, he’s got some drug in him that we don’t know anything about. He could be dying, and he doesn’t even have a name.” She started tearing up, stifling soft sobs at the fear of losing her brand new baby.

The Doctor walked over to her and wrapped her in a hug. He let her cry for a moment before saying, “Aw, he’s not dying. He’ll be fine. I haven’t died yet, have I? For all we know, the Time Lord in him could regenerate if things get too bad. Same with me. We’ll all be fine, Rose. You do have a point, though. We can’t have a nameless baby, and I can’t have a nameless traveling companion. Fritz’s name came soon enough, I’m sure we’ll find our son one, too.”

Rose stopped crying. “You called him ‘our son.’”

“I did. That’s what he is. Are you okay with that?”

“Yes, of course, I was just surprised to hear you say it. You haven’t been up front about your feelings lately, but then again, you’ve never been up front about your feelings. To hear you say something like that wasn’t expected, that’s all.”

The Doctor sighed. “I know I’m not as open about how I feel as most people are. I can’t imagine what it’s like trying to figure out what’s going on inside of my head. But Rose, if you want me to be more open, then I’ll be more open. I’m glad we have a son. I’m thankful that you’re okay and that I got to you before anything else happened to you two in that disgusting laboratory. I promise you that I will do everything in my power to make sure of the safety of you and our baby until I die. Rose Tyler, I love you, and I love that we have a family together.”

Rose was blown away by the Doctor’s sudden revelation of how he felt. She didn’t even think before kissing him, and he kissed her back.


	8. Growing

With the baby sound asleep, Rose and the Doctor stepped just outside of the room with the cradle in it, leaving the door slightly ajar so they could quickly hear if he started to wake up.

“You never did tell me how the drug got into you,” Rose whispered.

“Ahh, yes,” the Doctor quietly started, “When I had my first civil encounter with Fritz, he was sitting over a bowl full of maple syrup mixed with the drug. In order to figure out what the stuff in the bowl was, I tasted it. It was only the tip of my finger, so I doubt I’ll grow much, but you never-”

Before the Doctor could finish his sentence, he doubled over like he had been kicked in the stomach. Rose panicked.

“What is it? Doctor, what’s wrong?” Before he could say anything, Rose heard baby gurgles coming from the cradle. She pushed open the door and saw her child sitting up, with one hand in his mouth and the other on the edge of the cradle. He was drooling and smiling at his parents, who were both shocked at his size and capabilities. The Doctor, still bending over, said, “It must have been the drug. Perhaps it works in short bursts. I never saw Fritz growing, I’d just look away for a bit, and he’d be a half-meter taller! Maybe it’s stronger than we thought.”

Rose picked up her baby, and he cooed and laid his head on her shoulder. “I wonder if he can walk.” The Doctor raised an eyebrow at this notion, and replied, “Well, let’s see it then.”

Rose rocked the baby for a moment before standing him up on the floor. He held on to her leg for a moment, but upon seeing his father bent over, just above his eye level, he turned and made his wibbly-wobbly way across the floor, falling into the Doctor’s open arms. He happily squealed and giggled as the Doctor scooped him up and swirled him around before settling him on his hip.

Rose’s jaw had dropped when she saw him walking, but seeing him right next to his father made her notice something else. He already had deep, dark brown eyes, just like his daddy. She was overcome with a warm and fuzzy feeling watching father and son laughing together, spending their first moments as the best pals she was hoping they’d be.

“Can we call him Peter?”

The Doctor turned from playing with his son to look at Rose, who didn’t even think before she blurted out her question.

“Peter?”

“Yeah, like my dad. I don’t often get to see him, but knowing that he,” she motioned to the baby in the Doctor’s arms, “will actually grow up with his dad makes me feel like he’ll have a better childhood than I did, and that’s what all parents want for their kids, right?”

The Doctor looked back at the baby and smiled. He asked, “What do you think? Are you a Peter?” The baby squealed and clapped, smiling a little smile (with all of his baby teeth) at his parents who were both beaming back at him. The Doctor turned to Rose. “Peter it is.”

In the time that they were discussing his name, Peter had grown a bit more, getting to look about two years old. Both Rose and the Doctor noticed this, and the Doctor set him down so that he could go play in the halls of the TARDIS, knowing that he’d be safe as long as he stayed inside its blue doors.

“How are we going to slow down this drug? I don’t want his entire childhood to be over in a day, or even less! My parents always told me that I grew up in the blink of an eye, but look at him go- what if he’s old and grey before we are?” Rose was getting nervous thinking of what could happen if they didn’t rid Peter of the drug in his bloodstream.

“Rose, calm down, it’ll be fine. We’ll figure our way out of this, okay? I’m not getting much older at the moment, but I felt it when he had a growth spurt. It was almost at the same time, so we’ll know how quickly each spurt comes along by keeping track of the differences of time between each of the pains I get.” The Doctor brought Rose close to him, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Don’t worry. We’re all safe, here in the TARDIS, nothing can go horribly wro-”

The Doctor’s light hug turned into a tight squeeze as he curled up a little bit while still trying to stand. Rose could tell it hurt the Doctor more than it did last time. She lifted his chin up and made him look at her.

“Doctor, are you okay? Do you need anything?”

He was breathing deeply, trying to hide the pain (but not doing so well). He muttered between breaths, “Go check on Peter. I’ll be fine.”

Rose looked down the hall from which they had originally come and saw Peter standing perfectly straight, looking like he was about four years old. He said in a clear, high pitched voice, “Go check on Peter. I’ll be fine.”

Once again, Rose was surprised at Peter’s size, but also this time at his ability to quickly pick up on words and say them without any trouble. “Doctor! He’s talking, he just said exactly what you said, what should we-”

Peter interrupted Rose, saying, “Doctor! Doctor? Doctor. Doctor, Doctor, Doctor. Dooooctoooor.” He was playing with this new word, trying it out in many different ways. The Doctor had emerged from the room with the cradle in it, looking and trying not to laugh at Peter standing in the hallway with the blanket that was previously wrapped around him lying on the floor. The Doctor walked over to Peter and crouched in front of him, wrapping the blanket around his waist like a towel and tying a knot to make it secure. “Rose,” he asked, “will you go to the closet and see if there are any clothes Peter can wear for the moment?”

“Sure,” she replied, walking down the hall and only once looking back over her shoulder at the two boys staring at each other.

“Peter,” the Doctor said, pointing to Peter.

“Peter,” Peter responded, pointing to his father.

The Doctor smiled. “No, no,” he said, “Peter.” He then pointed at himself and said, “Daddy.”

Peter looked at the Doctor for a bit before saying, “Daddy,” and pointing at the Doctor.

“Yes! High five!” the Doctor exclaimed, before he remembered that Peter had no clue what a high five was. Peter stared at the Doctor’s hand in midair, but he smiled when the Doctor tapped his hand on Peter’s open palm and made a soft clapping sound. Peter responded by slamming his hand onto the Doctor’s, making any father proud that his son could deliver such a glorious high five.

Rose had to dig through lots of clothes before finding everything that Peter would need. She tried to find things that would be a little bit big on him so that any future growth spurts wouldn’t result in torn clothing. As she was heading back to where she thought the boys were, she stopped. She heard loud laughter, followed by what must have been Peter’s voice saying, “Daddy, you’re cool.”

Rose smiled, still standing just behind the corner, listening in on their conversation.

“Aww, no, you’re cool. I think Mommy is coming back soon, so say this. Ready? I’m gonna whisper it to you, like a secret.”

Rose waited a moment before hearing Peter’s giggles and decided to walk around the corner and hear what the Doctor told Peter to say.

They both turned around when they heard Rose’s footsteps, and Peter gleamed, saying, “Mommy! You’re gorgeous.”

Rose blushed and said, “Aw, thank you, Peter. You’re very handsome, yourself. However, I get the feeling that Daddy put you up to this. It seems like the _cool_ kind of thing he’d do.”

Peter turned to the Doctor and said, “See? I told ya!”

The Doctor laughed and scooped Peter up, carrying him over to Rose while he was laughing and yelling, “Put me down, Daddy!” The Doctor put him back on the floor, and Peter swiped the clothes from Rose that he was about to wear. He tried to put his arm through one of the pant legs, so Rose helped him put everything on right. When Peter was fully dressed, he looked up at the Doctor and said, “This is cool.”

Both Rose and the Doctor couldn’t help but smile at Peter’s insisting that everything was cool. The Doctor stood for a moment, clearly pondering something, before he said, “Oh! Rose, I’m going to fly the TARDIS to the nearest place that’ll have some good food for all of us to eat. I was hoping that you’d go out and get it so that I could go show Peter something. To make sure that you won’t miss anything, not a single moment of Peter’s life, I’ll let you take your time and then fly right back to the exact moment we dropped you off. Nothing will have changed. Alright?”

Rose nodded. “Okay, but I still feel bad leaving you two alone, even if it’s for just a moment.”

“Aw, no, nothing will happen! Don’t worry,” the Doctor replied, and he set the TARDIS in motion.

It was the first time that Peter had ever seen the TARDIS in action. His jaw dropped, and he couldn’t help but let out a long “Wow…” while staring at his dad running around, flicking switches and pushing buttons. The Doctor looked like he was just about to press one more button, but he stopped and turned to Peter. He smiled and asked, “Do you want to push it?”

“Yeah!” Peter ran over to his dad, who lifted him just high enough for Peter to push the bright yellow button. The TARDIS lit up and went off, flying to a little café near a street corner. As Rose turned to go outside, the Doctor handed her the psychic paper and said, “Use this to get whatever you need for free. Be careful.” He planted a soft kiss on her forehead, and Rose laughed at Peter’s loud “Ewww!” as the TARDIS door closed behind her.


	9. Gun

The Doctor turned and began to fly into the future to pick up Rose from getting lunch. Flicking switches, pushing buttons, turning knobs, and occasionally letting Peter help fly the TARDIS was just handiwork for the Doctor as his mind was elsewhere. He had suddenly remembered when Rose left that their enemy had sworn to get back at the Doctor and his family for thwarting its plan to use Peter as a soldier/weapon. He was worried that they’d be attacked without notice, without time to prepare to fend for themselves.

The Doctor stood back and let the TARDIS do her thing, knowing that the ride would be quick and smooth. However, with a sudden jolt, both the Doctor and Peter were thrown to the floor. All of the lights in the TARDIS turned off, everything had completely shut down.

The Doctor regained his senses and immediately reached out a hand in the dark, hoping to find Peter. “Peter, are you okay?” he asked, hoping for the best.

“Yeah, I think so. I can’t see anything, though. Where are you, Daddy?” Peter was very calm when he sat up, not noticing the gash in his knee because he’d never been hurt before.

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and shined the light towards where he heard Peter’s voice come from. He gasped as he saw a fully healed “Miss Marie” standing behind his son, wielding a gun. The Doctor yelled, “Peter!” but it was no use, she already had Peter in her grasp. Holding Peter by his neck and pointing the gun at his head, she spat, “Get up,” at the Doctor, looking down on him, knowing that she had him tied. The safety of Peter was enough to get the Doctor to do whatever she wanted.

The light of the sonic screwdriver wasn’t doing it for “Miss Marie,” so she hit a button on her belt and the emergency lights of the TARDIS came on. The main control room was dimly lit, but the Doctor could see well enough by the light that Peter was silently terrified.

The Doctor tried to say something to make Peter feel better, but for the first time in a very long time, no words came to him. He stood in silence, being forced to look at the blood spilling from Peter’s knee and the tears falling from his young, pale cheeks.

“Daddy, what’s happening?” Peter’s voice was almost inaudible.

The Doctor didn’t know what to say to Peter, so he addressed his captor: “Please, let him go.”

The alien holding the child laughed and threw him to the ground. Peter crawled over to the Doctor, standing up only to fall again when he grew once more, also sending the Doctor to the ground in a ball of searing pain. Peter was the first to stand, now looking ten years old. He turned towards the gun aimed at him, not aware of the danger he was in. He pointed to the gun and asked, “What does that do?”

The Doctor tried to get up before anything could happen to Peter, but he heard the shot before he had even sat up. The Doctor sprang into action, motivated by a raging fire in his heart, hoping that it was a misfire, that Peter was okay, but when he saw Peter laying on the floor, he knew he was too late.

Crying without holding back, the Doctor rocked his limp child in his arms, begging him to come back, to wake up, to say something, anything…

“Oh, shut up. He’s not dead, just unconscious. This gun only knocks people out, the blood is from his knee. You’d better fix that, _Daddy_ , it looks pretty bad.” “Miss Marie” wasn’t disguised anymore. She stood upright, a reptilian being dressed in a combat uniform, complete with a belt of buttons and remotes, which the Doctor assumed were wired to the TARDIS.

“Why are you doing this?” The Doctor worked to stop the blood flowing from Peter’s knee, his skin was torn even more when he grew. He paused to tear a strip of cloth from his sleeve to tie around Peter’s leg to slow the blood, but out of the corner of his eye he saw the alien moving about the TARDIS. The Doctor turned to get a better look, but he was hit on the head with the butt of the gun that Peter was shot with. As the Doctor crumbled, the alien laughed at how easy it was to get the upper hand on the Doctor. She bent over him, out cold, and softly cooed, “Sleep tight, Daddy. Hope your head doesn’t hurt too much when you wake up!”

She turned with a smile and walked deep into the TARDIS, knowing just where to hide until her next attack.


	10. Little Soldier

Peter was awake again before the Doctor. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was his dad in a heap halfway on top of him. He poked him, wondering if he was playing, but there was no response. Peter poked the Doctor again, harder this time, and the Doctor fell back against the center controls- sitting up, but still knocked out. Peter’s hearts started to beat faster, and he began to worry.

“Daddy? Are you sleeping?” With no response again, Peter assumed he was correct. When he tried to stand up, however, he felt something funny in his knee. It was a sharp feeling, and he didn’t really like it. Having never experienced pain, he didn’t know how severely injured he was.

There was a bloody strip of cloth from the Doctor’s sleeve sticking to Peter’s knee. Peter peeled it off and looked at his knee for the first time with curiosity, surprised to see a bunch of red with just a little bit of white in the middle. He touched the white, and a shot of pain went out, all through his leg. He let a soft “Ow,” escape before touching his wound again.

This time, Peter was ready for the pain, and he poked the white again. He noticed it was hard, and he assumed it was a bone. Before he could continue poking and prodding, however, the lights under the walkway towards the closet of the TARDIS came on. The room was still barely lit, but the walkway was clearly a clue for Peter. He wondered what caused the lights to come on.

“Hello?” Peter called down the hallway. Silence greeted his call with a sort of warmth, and Peter felt like he wasn’t alone. He closed his eyes to soak up the feeling, taking in the perfection of the moment. His mind was suddenly flashing through images, accompanied with feelings and sounds that Peter knew were only in his head.

First, he saw nothing, but he felt warm and secure. He heard his mom’s voice saying “Doctor” repeatedly, as if she was tired. There was another voice, also familiar, but he couldn’t identify it off the top of his head. Then, he felt a warm, yellow light pulsing and wrapping around him, accompanied by the noise that only came from the TARDIS. Peter smiled, recognizing the fact that the TARDIS noise was his favorite noise. His mind flashed to only seeing the big, yellow light, flowing and pulsing and moving in all directions, yet still staying in one place. He heard his dad excitedly yell “Allons-y!” and the TARDIS door slamming shut. Peter heard a voice coming from the light, but he couldn’t quite make out what it was saying. He concentrated all of his efforts on making out the words, and finally he heard:

“You can do it, think! There you go. You can hear me now, right, Peter?”

Peter was confused. He didn’t know whether he should respond, but he said, “Yes,” nonetheless.

“It’s me. The TARDIS. Can you see me?”

Peter’s jaw dropped, he couldn’t believe he was actually talking to the TARDIS. He said, “Yes, I can see you. You’re a big, yellow light. Like a ball of… stuff.”

The TARDIS laughed and responded, “You could say that. You’re the perfect combination of your parents, Peter. You’ve got the mind of your father, the determination of your mother, and the courage of both of them combined. Because of how often your parents have traveled through time, I have become a part of them. I’m now an even bigger part of you. You and I are linked, Peter, in the core of our existences. I can contact you because of how close we are. This will be the only time we speak, though. Any future contact will have to be made some other way.”

Peter couldn’t help but say, “Awww, why?”

“It takes a lot of energy for me to fully connect to your mind. You can read and understand and speak any language because of how close we are; I can translate everything for you like I do for your parents. I can put your thoughts into words, but it’s very difficult for me to think for you or project my being onto you. That’s not important at the moment, though. I’ve lit the way for you to go to the closet and find clothes to fit you better. Once you get dressed, you need to get outside. When you’re out there, you’ll be on your own. The person who shot you is still in here, and she is very dangerous. You’ll be safer outside. Don’t worry about your dad, I’ll do everything I can to protect him. Do you have any questions?”

Peter thought before asking, “Can you see into the future? You travel through time, so you must be able to see what’s gonna happen when and where you land.”

“Yes, I can,” the TARDIS replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Well,” Peter started, “I was kind of wondering if we win.”

“What do you mean?”

“This alien girl. She’s the bad guy. Me and Mommy and Daddy are the good guys. We’re fighting, that’s why the bad guy has a gun, and she’s hiding. So… we’re gonna win, right?”

Even though Peter couldn’t see a face, he knew that the TARDIS was smiling. “If I tell you, then winning wouldn’t be any fun, would it?”

Peter thought and replied, “No, I guess not. But Mommy and Daddy will be okay, right? They won’t get hurt?”

“They’ll be fine. Don’t worry about them. But while we’re talking about it, here…”

Peter felt tingling in his knee, and he opened his eyes to see what was happening. Little tendrils of yellow light were slowly wrapping around his knee and glowing. They grew to be a bright light, and then they quickly faded. Peter’s knee was perfectly healed, there wasn’t a sign of there ever being a gash at all.

Peter closed his eyes again. The TARDIS light was still there. “Thank you,” he softly said.

“You’re welcome, Peter. I can’t hold our connection for much longer, so this is goodbye. Good luck, little soldier. Go win one for the good guys.”

The light in his mind was fading, but Peter wasn’t ready to let it go. “Wait!” he cried. “Don’t go, I still have questions! How am I gonna save my dad? Where do I find you if I need you again? Please, don’t go!” The light had faded, but the warm, safe feeling was still there.

Peter felt tears coming to his eyes, but he knew he had a mission. He sniffled once, wiped his eyes, and stood up with a newfound determination. He knew what he had to do, and he was going to do it, like a good soldier would.


	11. The Captain and the Idiot

After finding clothes that fit him better, Peter walked back down the lit pathway and towards the door of the TARDIS. He turned before exiting to look at his father one last time, and he knew that the TARDIS would keep her promise and protect him. His only option was to trust her, anyway, since his parents were both unable to help Peter at the moment.

He quickly turned and walked back over to the Doctor, saying, “I’ll be back, Dad. She’ll protect you, don’t worry.” He tightly hugged his father and returned to the TARDIS door.

He pushed open the door and walked outside. He expected to see the café that his mom was at, but instead he saw a rocky wasteland. The ground was cracked in many places, and in the distance he saw a volcano with lava flowing quickly and freely, slowly cooling all around. Peter watched where he stepped so as not to fall into a cooling blob of lava. It was very hot out, but he knew the TARDIS wouldn’t lie to him; he was safer out here than in there.

Peter found a long rock that he used as a walking stick, poking things that he wasn’t sure whether or not they were safe to walk on. He didn’t have an end goal in mind, but he found himself walking towards the ominous volcano… and far away from the TARDIS.

***

Back inside the TARDIS, the Doctor woke up. He looked around, seeing the piece of bloodied cloth that was once on Peter’s knee, but Peter was nowhere to be seen. The Doctor was instantly worried. He tried to quickly stand up, but he felt a strong pain on the back of his head where he had been hit and crumpled to the ground again. He remembered the last few moments before he was knocked out and gasped. Peter was gone, but the last thing the Doctor knew, he was knocked out. Had he been taken? Had he woken up and ran off into the TARDIS? Had he went outside in search for help? All of this flashed through the Doctor’s mind within seconds, but he noticed the lit walkway to the closet and was inclined to look there first.

The Doctor slowly stood up, holding the TARDIS for support. He put a hand up to feel where he had been hit, and it was tender to the touch. The Doctor could feel a bump forming. He sighed as he walked towards the closet in search of Peter. He didn’t notice the little yellow tendrils of light curling around his head where he had been hit, soothing the pain and the bump away.

When the Doctor saw the closet, he knew that Peter had been there. Clothes were all over the floor, shelves were completely untidy, and the things he was wearing earlier were in a little pile near the doorway. If the Doctor had to guess, he would’ve said that Peter followed the lit pathway to the closet to put on bigger clothes so that he could move around more easily than before. He turned and left, smiling at the fact that Peter was at least okay enough to make a proper mess.

Back in the main control room, the Doctor was thinking about what to do, pacing and snapping his fingers, hoping that an idea would come to mind. As he turned to make another round of pacing and snapping, the door of the TARDIS swung open. The Doctor heard the creak of the hinges and peeked over his shoulder. The next thing he knew, he was enveloped in a huge bear hug.

“Doctor, it’s good to see you again!” Captain Jack Harkness let go of the Doctor and beamed at him. Stepping out from behind Captain Jack, Mickey Smith waved a hand and also greeted the Doctor with a soft, “Hey.”

The Doctor scoffed. “‘Hey’? Captain Jack Harkness attacks me with a hug, and all I get from Mickey the Idiot is a ‘hey’? C’mere!”

Mickey warmly approached the Doctor and they shared a short man hug, complete with a hard pat on the back. Before the Doctor could ask what they were doing there, Captain Jack cut in and said, “Oh, Doc, I think we’ve got something of yours.”

The two men stepped aside and the Doctor saw a teenage version of himself, with hints of Rose about him. He gasped. “Peter!” he yelled, grabbing him and squeezing the breath out of him in an extremely tight hug. The Doctor let his son go but still grasped his soldiers when he asked, “Where the hell have you been? And why have you grown again? I didn’t feel a thing this time!”

Peter smoothly said, “Calm down, Dad. Mickey and Jack found me when I was walking around outside. It’s kind of a long story, but the only really weird thing about it is that you didn’t feel me grow again. What happened to you while I was gone?”

Captain Jack gave the Doctor a look and asked, “I’d like to know what happened while _I_ was gone.” Mickey snorted, and the Doctor blushed. He turned to Peter and asked, “He didn’t ruin you, did he?” nodding to Captain Jack, who was smiling with his hands on his hips.

“No, but I think he plans to.” Peter smiled and looked back at Jack, who was still posing for the Doctor.

Everyone laughed, and Mickey was the first to break the silence afterwards. “Where’s Rose?”

The Doctor’s jaw dropped and he looked at Peter, who had grown twice since Rose had last seen him. He slowly, quietly said, “Oh, no.”

Mickey and Jack exchanged a worried look, and Peter explained, “She’s still at a little café getting the three of us lunch. Looks like we’ll all have to go together, now.” Peter laughed, but no one else joined in. They were all aware of how angry Rose would be. The Doctor was worried about what she’d think of Peter, Mickey was worried about what she’d think of his sudden reappearance, and Captain Jack was worried that she wouldn’t be wearing a low-cut shirt.

The lights suddenly flicked back on in the TARDIS, and the Doctor was past questioning. Too many unordinary things, even for his completely unordinary lifestyle, had been happening lately, so he just went with it. He set the TARDIS to go back to the café. While they were in mid-flight, he told Peter to go get dressed again, since his clothes were practically bursting at the seams. Peter walked off into the TARDIS, and the three men stood around the center console.

“So, Doctor,” Captain Jack started. “…Rose?”

“Oi! That’s none of your business!” The Doctor’s face was redder than ever.

“Well, it’s kind of mine,” Mickey said. He was sort of right, Rose ditched him for the Doctor, so the least he could do was to tell him how things are.

“Fair point. Okay. We’ve snogged a few times, and once things got a bit-”

“OH, _DOCTOR!"_ Captain Jack was beaming. He clapped him on the shoulder and said, “Nice!”

Mickey looked very uncomfortable. Staring at the ground, he mumbled, “Once? And you have a son?”

The Doctor put a hand on his neck to try to smooth things over and said, “Yeah. It was kind of forced by another alien, she wanted to take him and use him as a weapon to conquer every civilization in existence. Apparently a Time Lord-human hybrid is great for that sort of thing.”

Mickey looked up at the Doctor, seemingly ashamed for being rotten a few moments ago. “Oh, sorry. That’s unfortunate.”

“Well, no, Peter’s great, it’s just the-“

“Right, yeah, I get what you mean.”

The conversation quickly descended into a level of awkward that even Jack wasn’t going to try to salvage. Thankfully, Peter returned within moments of the settling silence and said, “Is this better?”

He was wearing a pair of tan cargo shorts, which showed the Doctor that his knee was perfectly healed, and a black polo shirt. His hair was a little messy; with each growth spurt it had grown a bit more. His outfit was complete with stylish black Vans. It was enough to make any teenage girl drool.

Captain Jack was proud of Peter’s ability to pick out a nice ensemble and gave him the nod of approval. The Doctor said, “Yes, much better. Now, let’s go get Rose.”

The four men walked over to the TARDIS door, and just as it shut behind them, maniacal laughter could be heard from deep within the TARDIS.


	12. Lunch

Rose was standing in line at the little café that the Doctor had dropped her off at just moments ago. She was startled to feel a hug from behind, but she gasped and smiled when a familiar voice said, “Rose Tyler. How are you, darlin’?”

“Jack!” She turned and gave him a real hug, surprised to see him where she was. “What are you doing here?”

“I’d like lunch, actually. I brought a friend, too. Is that alright?” Jack smiled, knowing that she’d explode when she saw Mickey.

“Yeah, of course! Who’s your friend?”

Rose looked around, and when she saw Mickey walking towards her, accompanied by the Doctor and some teenage boy, her heart stopped. It couldn’t be true. Mickey? Really? He was actually walking towards her, smiling and holding his arms open for a hug? And the Doctor, he looked ashamed, afraid even. What happened? And who was that boy? His eyes were twinkling, and they were-

“Oh. My. God.”

Jack turned to look at what Rose was staring at. She broke away from his light embrace and briskly walked right past Mickey, over to Peter. She put a hand on his cheek, staring deep into his eyes. Peter kindly smiled in silence, knowing that Rose was going to have a hard time adjusting to his new look. The last time she saw him, he looked ten years younger.

“Peter,” she whispered. Her eyes were tearing up, but the corners of her mouth were still turned up in a hint of a smile.

Peter put his hand on top of Rose’s, holding her to him, and quietly replied, “Yeah, Mom. It’s me.”

Rose pulled him into a tight hug, and she cried for a moment before suddenly stopping and looking up at the Doctor. She let go of Peter, who stepped back and gave her some space. Everyone who knew Rose in that café could tell that she was flaming mad. The Doctor could barely meet her eyes. She walked over to him and whispered in a quiet, angry whisper that could make anybody sound terribly evil.

“What the hell happened?”

The Doctor dared to look up, and he saw fire in Rose’s eyes. She was extremely angry with him, he could easily tell. “Rose, the TARDIS was hijacked.” Rose’s steely look instantly softened, and the Doctor continued. “Miss Marie came back, she rigged the controls to the TARDIS. Peter got hurt, but he seems to be better now, though I don’t know how. He grew twice since we dropped you off, there was no way I could stop it. I tried my best, Rose. I’m so sorry.”

Rose’s expression had completely faded from anger to sorrow, and she turned to get a look at Peter again. He seemed fine on the outside, but she had no clue what went on in her absence. She knew it was a bad idea to leave them, she should have waited and made them all go together, she missed an entire part of Peter’s growing, a part of his life that she wasn’t there for-

The Doctor pulled Rose into a hug and calmly shushed her, telling her that everything was alright. She had started crying again without noticing. Jack and Mickey both walked over to Rose to offer their comfort, with Peter in tow. None of them heard what the Doctor had said to her, so they could only assume.

“I’m alright, Mom. My knee is fine, and there are no after effects of that gun, as far as I can tell.” Peter was trying to comfort her, but she turned to eye the group surrounding her and choked out, _“Gun?!”_ before returning to her former position, crying into the Doctor’s chest. Peter made a face like he was sorry for stirring things up, and Jack replied with a silent motion to let it go, Rose was fine, she’d get over it in a minute.

Rose took a deep breath and regained her composure. She let go of the Doctor and stepped back to face all of them; all of the people she was closest to. “Tell me everything that happened.” The Doctor and Peter took turns explaining what happened inside of the TARDIS when Rose left, and Jack and Mickey told her about how Jack had popped in for a visit with Mickey, and they were walking around on a deserted planet just talking when they discovered Peter, who already looked like he did now. Rose nodded and periodically gasped when guns or gashes or fainting were mentioned. She smiled at Jack when he concluded with, “So there you have it. Now can we eat?”

“Sure,” Rose shakily replied, “I just need a hug from each of you.” Starting with Jack, she went around the circle. Jack was a bit frisky, hugging her low around the waist. She gave him a look, but he just smiled that trademark Captain Jack Harkness smile. The Doctor and Peter were both quick and sweet with their hugs. Mickey lingered, however. Rose went to pull away, but he held on. She felt awkward when he let go a few seconds later, and realized that she had totally forgotten him when she saw Peter for the first time since he grew.

“Oh, Mickey, I’m sorry! I walked right by you when you were coming to give me a hug!”

Mickey smiled and said, “I was wondering when you’d remember. It’s fine, that must have been weird. And shocking.”

Rose scoffed and only replied with a “Yeah,” still not able to wrap her head around the fact that she’d missed so much in what seemed like so little time.

Captain Jack pulled a couple moves on the waitress at the counter, so everyone got to eat for free, and they didn’t even have to use the psychic paper. Minutes after they were all seated and chatting it up, they were served with a huge lunch. The bill was still given to Jack, but it was signed with a lipstick kiss on the bottom, accompanied by a phone number. He laughed and tucked it into his pocket, which got him shrugs and eye-rolls from everyone at the table.

Over the course of the meal, Peter was thoroughly entertained by his parents and their friends. He loved how fun they all were, and he was excited for the adventures they would have together. Jack was secretly admiring Rose’s shirt, which was indeed low-cut. Mickey kept looking at Peter and his parents, noticing how he had his father’s eyes, his mother’s smile, and things of that nature. He was still amazed that Rose and the Doctor had a kid together. The Doctor was letting his cares go for the time being, just soaking up the happiness of being in the company of the people who still liked him, despite the chaos and trouble that always followed him around. Rose was thinking about those feelings she had back at the cottage about Mickey, wondering if they were real. She kept looking between him and the Doctor, but in the end she put it out of her mind because she knew she’d always choose her life with the Doctor over anything else, no matter who or what came along to try to change that.

They had a wonderful time together. As they walked out the door, Jack signaled the waitress who had kissed the bill with a sign of “I’ll call you,” even though everybody knew he’d be too absorbed in the next girl to even remember the kiss he kept in his pocket.


	13. Trillijandra

Everyone piled back into the TARDIS, full and happy. The Doctor was getting ready to set the TARDIS into motion again to go back to where they had come from, but all of the lights went out. No walkways were lit, no emergency lights came on. It was completely black.

There was quiet laughter in the TARDIS, and everyone flipped out. The Doctor took charge, saying, “Alright, keep calm. We’re all still here right? Rose?”

“Yeah.”

“Peter?”

“Yep.”

“Jack?”

“You know it.”

“Mickey?”

“Of course I’m last.”

Everyone shared a nervous laugh, and the Doctor said, “It’s nothing personal. Idiot.”

“Oi!”

Again, a communal laugh at the pretend hostility between the two, and the Doctor continued: “We all need to get close together. Walk to the center of the room and reach out for hands, grab on to whoever you find. Keep talking so that we all know what’s going on.”

Constant mumbles from everyone filled the room, until the Doctor loudly said, “I’ve got a hand!”

“So do I,” Peter replied. “Anybody else?”

“Nope, still searching,” Jack quietly said, trailing off. Rose soon squeaked, followed by a laugh from Jack, and everyone knew that the two had found each other.

“Mickey? Where are you?” Peter wanted to make sure everyone was together and safe. Nobody answered.

“Mickey?” The Doctor asked this time, a hint of worry in his voice. Still no answer.

“Ugh!” Jack sounded like he’d been punched in the gut, and their fears were confirmed when Jack followed his grunt with, “Rose? You’re not supposed to let go. And _one_ butt grab does not warrant a hit like that.”

The Doctor quietly mumbled, “I don’t think she wanted to let go, and I don’t think she kicked you...” The Doctor held Peter’s hand in a death grip, and he felt Peter’s tight grasp in return. “Peter, hold on to me as tight as you possibly can. We all know that you’re the prime target here, I don’t know what she wants with Rose and Mickey…”

The lights all turned back on, and the Doctor looked at the hand that he was holding. It wasn’t Peter’s. It belonged to the reptilian Miss Marie. She was still firmly gripping the Doctor’s hand, looking right at him and smiling. The Doctor quickly pulled his hand away from hers, which caused her to laugh. She looked over at Jack, who was standing across the room, looking at her in bewilderment. He managed to pull a flirtatious smile and say, “Captain Jack Harkness,” extending a hand for a proper greeting.

“Oh, shove it. I’ve heard all about you. If it pleases you to know, my name’s Trillijandra, and I’m not interested.” She turned and met his wide-eyed stare. Her outfit was very revealing, even though it was meant for fighting. Jack was clearly having ideas.

She rolled her eyes and faced the Doctor again, who hadn’t let his eyes off of her. She had Rose, Mickey, _and_ Peter, so he had to keep her at a safe distance, but still close enough to get his family back- and Mickey.

“I assume you want those humans back?” she asked, toying with the Doctor. Jack was slowly making his way over to them, but Trillijandra wasn’t paying attention to Jack anymore.

“Both the humans and my son would be nice,” the Doctor coolly replied.

“Ha. The boy stays with me. I’m not sure why I took the other two, I only really needed- what was his name, Peter? Anyhow, you can have them back. The thrill is over for me.”

Trillijandra pressed a button on her belt, and Mickey and Rose materialized next to Jack. They looked around, verified that they were okay, and hugged the nearest person, Jack. Trillijandra and the Doctor were both watching the warm exchange, but neither of them knew what was going on when Jack let go of them and yelled, “GO!”

Rose went for Trillijandra’s left, Mickey for her right, and Jack plowed straight into her. The Doctor just barely stepped out of the way before Jack had Trillijandra pinned to the ground with his body, Rose and Mickey stepping on her wrists to keep her from moving much. Jack smiled just inches from Trillijandra’s face and said, “Hello, again.” She growled, but remained mostly silent. Jack slid back and sat on Trillijandra’s knees, still smiling that perfect Captain Jack Harkness smile. She was glaring at him, and the others in the room were wondering where the heck he was going with this.

“I’m gonna have to take your belt off, Miss,” Jack slyly said, which caused Rose and Mickey to start snickering, while the Doctor face palmed.

Jack clicked Trillijandra’s belt buckle, and it fell from her waist. He pulled it out from under her, holding it triumphantly. He beamed down at her, and she was clearly not happy. He was just about to get up when the Doctor put a hand up and said, “Wait. We’ve got her where she can’t easily escape any time soon. I’d like to know a thing or two.”

Jack eased himself back onto Trillijandra, now sitting more near her hips, and said, “Go for it, Chief.”

The Doctor walked over to Trillijandra and looked at her for a few moments before asking, “What is that drug that makes him grow?” Nobody had to ask who ‘he’ was, they all knew the Doctor was referring to Peter.

Trillijandra laughed. “If you think that just pinning me down will get me to answer your questions, then you’re so wrong.”

Rose stepped a little harder on Trillijandra’s wrist, which warranted a glare, but Rose didn’t care. Mickey followed suit, and Trillijandra sighed. “Well, I can see I’m going nowhere fast. Alright. The drug is an invention of mine. I call it Bantricillo, after my father. He wanted to rule all of life, but he died an untimely death, so I carry on his dream in his honor. It’d be nice to unite every living being under one ruler, which would be me.”

The Doctor frowned and said, “You’re getting off topic. What will it do to Peter?”

“He’ll grow to his pivotal point of physical strength and ability, and then he’ll stop growing so quickly and age normally like he would as if he had never consumed the Bantricillo.”

The Doctor and Rose both let out little sighs of relief. Rose interrupted the Doctor’s thoughts by asking, “What will it do to the Doctor?”

“Nothing, anymore. While he was knocked out, I injected him with an antidote so that he wouldn’t be able to tell when Peter was growing anymore. Once I took him, I wanted you all to assume he was dead so that you’d leave me to my business.”

“Was there anything other than antidote in that injection?” Rose’s voice was getting edgy.

“No. I won’t feel victorious when I kill him if I’ve already began to poison him. It won’t be a real battle.”

The Doctor returned to his questioning position. “What makes you think I’ll fight you?”

Trillijandra smiled. “What makes you think Peter is okay right now?”

Rose shot a look at the Doctor, who nodded and continued. “Well, we’re still not done here. Why did you have a bed and breakfast out in the middle of nowhere?”

“I’m assuming you want the full story, then?”

“Well, I want to know why everything was made from the metal of Satellite 5, and why you disguised yourself as a human, and why there was a blizzard with flowers still in bloom, and then no sign of it ever occurring. So yeah, the full story.”

“The human was a cheap trick. I researched common human names and combined two of them so that you’d believe me, also having a nickname. I already tried to take over Satellite 5, but when they refused to bow to my power, I blew it all up. I collected the metal and built a perfect trap for the two of you. Cozy, comfortable, and perfect for getting what I needed- that baby.”

Trillijandra paused to look at everyone’s awkward reaction to her explanation. She laughed, and continued. “The blizzard was to make you come inside. I didn’t bother killing the plants because I knew you’d come inside anyway, to investigate. Another invention of mine, I have a machine that can control the weather around it for as far as I need. A blizzard strong enough to barely be seen through didn’t need to be that large, so I went with it. I prefer the better weather, so I fixed things the next day. Anything else you need to know while you’ve got _him_ sitting on me?” She nodded towards Captain Jack, who was happy he could help.

The Doctor thought about it for a moment and asked, “Are there any drugs still in Rose from when you had her under that lab?”

Trillijandra shook her head. “No, nothing that will hurt her. Like I said before, I kept her perfectly healthy so that Peter would be the best that he could be.”

“Good. Is there anything specific about Peter that I should know? Any deviations from the standard human or Time Lord genetics?”

“Not really. He’s got two hearts, both function just fine. There is a distinct presence of Time itself in him, I’m not really sure how to explain it. He’s very closely linked with this thing,” she said, nodding to the TARDIS. “I’m not sure about regeneration, though, and I didn’t want to test that out.”

The Doctor nodded and kept quiet. He looked at Rose, as if to silently ask if she had any more questions. She thought for a moment and shook her head.

“I’ve got a question,” Jack boldly said.

Everyone in the TARDIS groaned, expecting some sort of allusion to getting him and Trillijandra on a date, but Jack asked, “What does everything on that belt do? And how do I get your connection to controlling the TARDIS completely offline?”

Trillijandra grunted and said, “That red button will cause the belt to self destruct in one minute. I put it as a safety feature just in case somebody else got their hands on me… Or their entire body.”

“Sweet. Doctor, would you do the honors?”

The Doctor took the belt, pressed the button, and tossed it outside the TARDIS door. A soft boom was heard through the door, and when the Doctor looked outside again, it was gone.

“Are there any other ways for you to control the TARDIS?” Jack leaned close, towering over Trillijandra so that he could closely analyze her response, looking for a hint that she might be lying.

She looked right into Jack’s eyes and flatly replied, “No. I wish I was that prepared.”

Jack stared at her for a moment and then sat back up, taking her word for it. “Alright. I’m good. Anybody else care to ask the lady a couple questions?”

Everyone shook their heads, and Jack looked up at the Doctor. “What should we do with her? Just let her go?”

“Yeah. We’ve got to be nice to her if we want Peter back.”

Jack rolled off of Trillijandra, and Mickey stepped off of her wrist. Rose gave her a steely glare before letting up on her, and Trillijandra rose with ease.

“Glad I could help you all sort things out. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go train a soldier.” She pushed the button on the transporter she wore on her wrist, and she was gone.


	14. Fallen Hero

Jack took a remote out of his pocket and handed it to the Doctor.

“Thank you,” the Doctor coolly said.

Rose and Mickey exchanged a look before Mickey asked, “What’s that?”

“I stuck a tracker on her leg when I was sitting on her, so now we know where she’s going. I always have one handy, just in case moments like this one come up. The Doctor has seen me use it before, so he knew my plan before I even executed it.”

“And it was a bloody good one, too. Sometimes it pays to be known as the guy who gropes people. Placing a tracker is much more subtle when it’s confused for a good grope.” The Doctor laughed and set the TARDIS in motion to follow Trillijandra.

The TARDIS landed, and they all walked outside. They were on the same planet as they were earlier, with the cracked ground and oozing volcano, but this area of land was solid rock. No lava was flowing from under their feet. In the distance, they could see Trillijandra and Peter, along with some other alien creature.

The Doctor smiled. “Fritz!” he exclaimed. Everyone looked at him funny, so he explained, “That creature over there is a friend of mine. I call him Fritz.”

“Ahh, yeah, I vaguely remember him. I’m afraid I was busy giving birth at the time, so I can’t say I remember too much.” Rose smiled at the faces the men made, and they all started walking towards Peter, Trillijandra, and Fritz.

Rose was admiring the view of the volcano from where they were. It was fairly close, the light from the lava flowing down the sides was enough to light up the land around them with an orange-yellow glow.

They neared the others and began to slow down. Trillijandra turned and gasped, she had thought she’d gone where they wouldn’t follow her. Jack smiled and pointed at her leg, and she plucked the little red light from in between her scales, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it.

They were close enough that they didn’t have to shout to talk, so Jack said, “Oh, come on. Now I’ve got to go grab another one from my place when we’re done here.”

Trillijandra smiled and sarcastically replied, “Sorry.”

Peter seemed groggy, but he was awake and able to focus enough that he stood up from his seat on a rock and outstretched his arms, waiting to be attacked with hugs. He started to walk forward, but he lost his balance and sank to the ground. Rose gasped and ran to him. She picked him up so that he could sit up against the rock, made sure he was okay for the moment, and turned to Trillijandra, shouting, “What have you done to him?”

“It’s the after-effect of traveling for the first time with one of these,” she pointed to the transporter on her wrist. “Don’t worry about it.”

Rose stood up and stomped over to Trillijandra, looking her straight in the eye when she yelled, “‘Don’t worry about it?’ I have absolutely no reason to worry! Why would I worry about my son when some crazy alien tried to take him from me multiple times? Why would I worry when I see him, and he’s so out of it that he can’t even walk? Everything is perfectly fine, Trillijandra, and I must be insane for thinking that I should be worrying!”

Trillijandra backed away with her hands up, saying, “If you would have just given him to me in the first place, we could be done here. However, if you want to spit fire, then I’ll fight right back.” Trillijandra punched Rose square in the jaw, which sent her spinning.

All three of the guys there immediately ran to her aid, while Peter slurred, “Mom, I’m, I’m fine, really, I’m g- I’m good.”

Rose touched where she had been hit. It was tender, but now she was flaming mad. She pushed the three men away from her and walked right up to Trillijandra, faking a punch to the gut, but actually slapping her straight across the face. Trillijandra had blocked low, so she wasn’t expecting the sharp pain in her cheek. She recoiled for a moment, cracked her knuckles, and smiled. Trillijandra rushed at Rose, but Jack and Mickey grabbed Trijjilandra before she could try to get at Rose again. Rose was about to take advantage of this opportunity, but the Doctor stepped directly in front of her and softly said, “Rose, listen to me, this isn’t you. Stop this behavior, let’s be productive here. We need to get Peter, and we need to go home.”

Rose calmed down a bit, it helped that the Doctor had his hands on her shoulders. She hugged him and quickly kissed him on the cheek before pulling away and sighing, saying, “You’re right, I’m sorry. I need to be a mother right now, not whatever I just was. I’m okay now. Really.” The Doctor nodded and smiled at her, letting go of her shoulders, but putting an arm around her waist.

“Trillijandra, you’re outnumbered four to one. Why don’t you just give us Peter, and we’ll leave you alone.” The Doctor tried to talk some sense into Trillijandra, but she wasn’t having it.

“Ha! You think I’ll back down now? Not a chance! I won’t rest until each of you is dead and gone, so that I can achieve my father’s dream and rule all of the cosmos!”

She turned, seemingly to walk away, but she drew a dagger and tossed it lightly between her hands, looking around to see who she was going to lunge at first.

“Where were you hiding that?!” Jack was staring at her in bewilderment. She looked at him and jumped, landing right on top of him, sinking the dagger deep into his chest. Jack gasped and looked down to see just the handle protruding from his chest, not a bit of blade showing. Blood was beginning to heavily spill from the wound. Trillijandra, sitting on Jack’s hips like he was sitting on her earlier, said, “Look at us. The roles are reversed, Jack. So, tell me. What does it feel like to be on the bottom?” She pulled the dagger from his chest, and blood was gushing from the hole that she had just created.

“Well, sweetheart, it’s a little different from the top,” he smiled. “But I still like it.”

Trillijandra’s brow furrowed at Jack’s ease of communication at a time like this. She knew that he was speaking some of his last words, so his light manner and sweet smile threw her off a bit. She asked, “You know I’m going to kill you, right?”

“Yeah,” Jack sighed, “it’ll be fun for both of us.” Trillijandra’s confused looked inspired Jack to finish off his life with, “Don’t worry, darling. We’ll meet again soon.” He closed his eyes and exhaled for the last time, a light smile still on his face.

Peter saw all of this and was unaware of Jack’s inability to die. He got up and tried to run to Jack, but he was still not quite back to normal. He ended up clumsily stumbling over to Trillijandra and Jack. He slammed Trillijandra with his elbow and she fell off of Jack, holding a hand up to the side of her head where Peter had rammed her. The blood was still flowing from Jack’s chest as Peter put his hands over the wound and yelled, “Mom! Dad! Mickey! Do something, he’s dying!”

The other three adults had already exchanged a look, aware of the fact that Trillijandra and Peter both didn’t know that Jack wasn’t really dead. At least, that he wouldn’t stay dead. The Doctor broke away from the group and went over to Peter, who was bawling and trying to restart Jack’s heart, pushing on the wound and hoping that he’d still have enough blood to make it until they could take better care of him.

Peter felt an arm over his shoulder. The Doctor softly said, “Peter. You have to let him go. Everything will be okay, I promise. We just have to get you away from here and out of harm’s way, then we can come back to help Jack.”

Peter shoved his dad’s arm off of him and screamed, “Look! He’s dead. We can’t help him anyway. He died trying to save me, to save everyone from her,” he shot a look at Trillijandra, “and we just stood back and let him die. He’s a hero, Dad. A fallen hero. I can’t leave him. I _won’t_ leave him.”

The Doctor knew that he couldn’t change Peter’s mind, so he nodded and stood up, leaving Peter to be with Jack. Mickey and Rose both leaned in towards the Doctor when he rejoined them, questioning his judgment to let Peter believe that Jack was really gone forever.

“If we tell him, Trillijandra will notice Peter’s change of mood, or even worse, hear that he’s not really dead. We have to let her believe that she’s gaining the upper hand. Peter will be fine in the end, all of us will go back to that same café for tea later. Let’s just concentrate on getting Trillijandra to surrender for the time being.”

Mickey and Rose nodded, but they both hated to see Peter so out of sorts over Jack’s death.

Before the Doctor turned to reassess the situation, Peter screamed and attacked Trillijandra. Relentlessly hitting her in the face, the head, the shoulders, and the neck area, he bludgeoned her until she fell limp beneath him and groaned in pain. All of the others had rushed over to him, trying to pull him off of Trillijandra. She was bleeding in a few places, but she wasn’t in any sort of critical condition. She barely opened her eyes and looked straight at Peter, just glaring at him for a moment before softly whistling. A single, high-pitched note pierced the air, and a loud barking noise was heard from Fritz.

He lunged at Peter, grabbing him by the shoulder with his teeth and carrying him away, taking him to a favorable place for Fritz to tear him to shreds. Peter screamed and tried to resist, but Fritz had grown to be two or three times Peter’s size, so fighting was no use.

Trillijandra smiled and quietly laughed, even in her sorry state of affairs. Rose punched her once more and feverishly yelled, “What did you do?”

Trillijandra smiled and responded, “In your absence, I trained the thing you call “Fritz” to kill any attacker of mine when I whistle. It was a security matter, because I had a feeling you might come after me. Now he’s off taking care the boy, and he’ll be back in a moment to kill the rest of you.”

Just for good measure, Rose hit Trillijandra once last time before turning to the Doctor to ask what to do. However, she hadn’t noticed that while she was drilling Trillijandra, the Doctor and Mickey ran over to Peter to try to save him.


	15. Glass Bottles

The Doctor remembered the promise that he had made to Rose when Peter was still a baby. He told her that he’d do everything in his power to keep his family safe. Now, the terrible noises coming from Fritz and the screams coming from Peter were threatening to be the breaking point of that promise.

Mickey and the Doctor were both running at full speed to get to Peter. Rose wasn’t far behind, and all of them were scared out of their minds. Peter’s screams were dying down, which only made them run faster.

He was in a horrible condition. There were numerous gaping holes in his body where Fritz had bitten into him and torn his flesh apart. His clothes were more like rags, and his breath was shaking. Fritz was close to finishing him off.

Mickey had a gun hidden in his jacket, which he pulled out and fired at Fritz. He turned to face Mickey, who was still showering Fritz with bullets. A growl and a lunge was all it took to silence the gun. Rose cried out, thinking that Fritz had crushed Mickey when he pounced on him, but a final bang from the gun came from underneath Fritz, and he rolled over, finally defeated.

Mickey was barely scratched, so he quickly got up and brushed himself off before running over to Peter, where everyone else was. A high-pitched scream was heard in the distance, and Captain Jack Harkness arrived moments later.

“I couldn’t leave her to suffer, she was beaten pretty badly,” he muttered, not knowing who had put Trillijandra in such a deathly condition.

The corners of Peter’s mouth turned up a bit, not only smiling because Jack was alive, but also because he had been the one to defeat Trillijandra. Jack had only killed her because she was waiting for death to come, so he made her wait a bit shorter.

Peter’s vision was blurry, his eyes were watering due to the immense amount of pain that he was experiencing, although a part of him was also crying tears of joy because he had all of his family back. He took in his surroundings, concentrating on all of the little details. His mother was the closest to him on his right, with his father right behind her. She was silently weeping, but she was still smiling at him, trying to lighten the heavy mood. The Doctor’s face clearly showed concern.

On his left, Peter saw Mickey and Jack both crouching like his parents were. Jack was giving him a look like he was proud of him, and Mickey seemed to be lacking all emotion. Maybe the shock of it all had finally gotten to him.

A twinge of pain caused Peter to curl up, twisting to his right a bit and holding himself together with his left arm. Rose grabbed his right hand and held it close to her, trying not to cause Peter any more pain than what he was already experiencing.

Jack looked at the Doctor. His eyes were sad, and he could only mutter a weak, single-worded question.

“Regeneration?”

The Doctor looked down and shook his head. “I don’t know.” He looked back at Peter and asked him, “Peter, can you feel yourself healing at all? Anything repairing or fixing itself?”

Peter tried to laugh, but he ended up with a deep, painful cough. When the coughing died down, he muttered a weak, “No.”

The Doctor closed his eyes and sighed. He was fighting back tears, Peter could tell. The Doctor tried to ask again, “Do you feel warm at all? Not like the temperature, but like it’s coming from within?”

Peter silently shook his head, thinking back to the conversation he and the TARDIS had shared. She told him that his parents would be okay. She told him that she’d protect them as well as she could. She told him to go win one for the good guys.

Rose turned to look at the Doctor, clearly panicked. Mickey reached out and touched her shoulder as a comforting gesture, and she smiled through her tears back at him. The Doctor sighed and asked, “Do you think you can try to regenerate?”

Peter closed his eyes, thinking of the yellow light that he talked to. He thought of growing, of healing the gash in his knee. He took a deep breath, held it in for a moment, and sighed, knowing that nothing was going to happen.

He opened his eyes again and looked at his dad. The Doctor could tell that Peter couldn’t do it, he couldn’t regenerate. He sighed and held the hand that Rose was already holding, his grasp light but meaningful. Peter felt like he was letting everyone down. A single tear ran down his cheek as he breathed, “I’m sorry.”

The Doctor shook his head and replied, “No, this is my fault. I should have been more careful, I should have paid better attention to everything that was happening. I should have taken better care of you, all of you.” He met eyes with everyone that was sitting with Peter, ending with Rose. She was bawling now, covering her mouth with her free hand.

She turned back to Peter, who had become pale and weaker than ever before. He could barely hold on to her hand. He smiled at her and said, “Mom. You’re gorgeous.”

Rose smiled, tears falling down her face at the sight of her little boy calling her gorgeous when he was barely in one piece. Peter looked at his dad and said, “Take care of her.” The Doctor nodded, knowing that there was nothing he could do to save Peter anymore.

Peter turned to Jack and Mickey, who were both struggling with holding back their tears and sobs. Peter smiled and said, “Don’t forget to call her, Jack. Take her out somewhere nice.” Jack smiled and replied, “Will do,” patting the paper in his pocket with the kiss and the phone number on it.

“And Mickey, you’re one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. You’re not an idiot at all. I’m sure you’ll end up somewhere great doing something to make all of us proud.”

Mickey and the Doctor exchanged a look and a short laugh. Peter looked at everyone around him again and said, “You guys are my family. I’m so glad that I could spend my life in your company. I love you.”

Any resistance to crying was given up, and everyone was a sobbing mess. They all responded with their ‘I love you’s and their promises to make Peter proud and do the things that he had asked them to do. Peter took in his surroundings one last time and smiled, closing his eyes and sighing. His hearts had stopped, but his smile was still there as a light reminder that he had lived a happy life.

Rose looked expectantly at Peter, waiting for a yellow light to come shooting out from all of his limbs, resulting in a perfectly healed and brand new body. However, when his hand fell limply from hers, she knew it was over. He had said his goodbyes, made his final requests, and now her son was dead.

She cried, cradling his body in her lap and rocking him. The last time she held him was before he walked for the first time. His life was only hours long, yet he had learned so much and became so smart and experienced so many adventures. She remembered his first words, his first flight in the TARDIS, and the way he thought everything was cool. She thought of the time that she was at the café while the TARDIS was captured by Trillijandra, missing out on an entire part of his life. Now, it was all over, and she was left with her lifeless, mangled child in place of the newborn baby she had held not even a day ago.

The Doctor was silent, as well as Mickey and Jack. The glow from the volcano reflected off of Peter’s face, making him look less pale than he really was. The Doctor silently stood up and walked away, back towards the TARDIS. Nobody questioned him, they just let him go. Jack and Mickey wrapped Peter up in Mickey’s jacket and carried him back to the TARDIS with Rose slowly following them. She had descended into silence, keeping her distance and not showing any more emotion.

In the TARDIS, the Doctor had walked deep into the endless hallways, looking for a room for him to work things out in his mind. He opened random doors, searching for a good place, and finally he found it. The room had many different kinds of tables scattered about. Each table held many glass containers of all colors, shapes, and sizes. The Doctor picked up the nearest bottle, a tall, thin yellow vase, and smashed it against the wall. The vase shattered and pieces fell to the ground, showering the Doctor with little shards of glass. He walked deeper into the room, still furious at his situation, and found a long table lined with about twenty jars and bottles and cups. He swept his arm across the table, sending the glass flying and breaking all around the room. The Doctor’s hand was bloody, but he didn’t notice. His head was reeling, he still couldn’t believe that Peter was gone.  He had failed to protect his family. He sank to his knees, kneeling in broken glass, and began sobbing uncontrollably. He knew that once he left that room, he would be done crying, and he would be strong for Rose and for Peter.

But Peter-

“No!”

The Doctor interrupted his own thoughts with a shout and another smash of glass, unable to say in his mind that Peter was dead. He knew that he’d never forget, and that he’d learned his lesson. His family on Gallifrey, his old life- that was long gone. His children and grandchildren were still a large part of him, and he often thought of them and how much he missed them. He promised himself that he’d never let something like that happen again, where the people he held closest to him were taken away. But time and time again, companion after companion, friend after friend, he became a lonely man once more. The Doctor’s mind was so clouded over with all these raging thoughts that he had to speak out loud to himself to get anything straight.

“Rose. Rose Tyler. That girl… amazing, yes, but look what she did to you. You let your guard down _one time_. You pledged yourself to her, hoping that things would be different, that you wouldn’t be like this anymore, but look. Look at you now. Peter… Bloody hell, what have I done? I promised to protect them, and now, look. Look! Look at what a sorry man you’ve become! You knew this would happen. You knew deep down that something would happen. You went and had a child, and now he’s dead!”

The Doctor paused and stifled a sob before breaking and muttering through tears, “He’s dead.”

The Doctor had stopped bleeding, but he was still in pain. He didn’t feel anything but pain. The holes in his hands that were filled with glass were nothing, but the hurt inside of him from knowing that this was all his fault was too much to bear. He fell to his knees once more and cried, letting it all out, knowing that when he got up he was going to rejoin the others in the TARDIS and find Peter a safe resting place.


	16. Blue

Mickey, Jack, and Rose were all back in the TARDIS, gathered in the main control room with Peter’s body slumped up against the door. Nobody could bear to look at him anymore. They had all had done their crying, but as there were no more tears to cry, there was no reason to keep looking at the dead boy by the door. When the Doctor walked back into the room, everyone could tell that he was crying, and they all saw the blood on his hands and knees, but nobody said anything to him about it.

The sight of Peter by the door pushed the Doctor close to his breaking point again, but he closed his eyes and sighed deeply, forcing himself to put the TARDIS in motion to pick up a casket and find a place to lay Peter to rest. He tried to do it all on his own, but Rose refused, and Jack and Mickey wanted to be supportive, so they silently tagged along and helped carry the casket back into the TARDIS, where they laid Peter inside and closed it. The Doctor flew the TARDIS to a desolate field in a time when the land wasn’t being used, digging up the  earth with the help of the other men while Rose stood by, trying her best not to look at the casket that held her son. She pretended like she wasn’t crying, and everyone pretended not to notice. It became a common courtesy to ignore the crying during Peter’s burial, until the dirt was packed back into place and it came time to say a eulogy of sorts before they left.

The Doctor sighed, knowing he’d be the one who would have to start. “Peter was wonderful. He was an intelligent, kind boy who lit up the worlds of everyone he met,” the Doctor looked up at the three people surrounding him, knowing they were the only ones who actually knew him. He continued, “He was an absolute pleasure to have known, and it is heartbreaking to know that his time in this life was up so soon.”

“I loved him so much.” Rose began talking before she fell to tears again, knowing when she did that she wouldn’t be able to speak anymore. “I still love him. He was my first child, and I’ve never loved anything more than I love him. He was perfect. I could have never wished for anything more than what he gave me. His life made mine worth living.” Her throat tightened, and she knew she had said all she could manage.

Jack was next, saying, “Even though I only met him hours ago, Peter was one of the greatest people I’ve ever known. He wore his heart on his sleeve, and he didn’t know anything but good. He was as pure as anything could be, he was a great kid.”

Mickey didn’t look up from the overturned ground. He stared in silence for a moment before ending the speaking with, “He believed in us more than we did. He trusted us with everything, relying on us to guide him through such a short life. You all already said how great he was, how kind he was, how pure he was, but what really needs to be said is how we all fell in love as soon as we met him. He captured out hearts, holding them and taking them with us when he left. I don’t think I’ve ever been so affected by a sudden loss, but Peter was special. He was one of a kind.”

They stood gathered around his grave, staring down and crying, eventually coming together and holding each other because the weight of Peter’s death was too much for each of them to hold on their own. After a while, the sun was gone and the sky was black, causing the three of them to return to the TARDIS. The Doctor dropped Mickey and Jack off where they had come from, saying their goodbyes and exchanging hugs soberly and solemnly. When the Doctor and Rose were alone again, they just stood in silence hugging each other and wishing away the tears that kept on coming.

Days passed, and Rose was slipping deeper and deeper into depression. She wasn’t herself anymore; she had lost the gleam that once was in her eye. The Doctor tried to cheer her up, but nothing worked. They were sitting silently in the TARDIS while the Doctor was contemplating how to make Rose feel better when she said, “Take me back.”

“What?”

“Take me back to the part of Peter’s life that I missed. Take me back to the café when you dropped me off so that I can stop myself from ever leaving. Take me back.”

The Doctor was slowly shaking his head while she was talking, dreading having to answer her. “Rose, I can’t. It’s one of the laws of time, you can’t go back on your own time line. It’d create a paradox, and bad things would happen. If I could fix things, I would, but I can’t. I’m sorry.”

She looked up from her hooded eyes and stared at the Doctor, making him feel, once again, like everything that happened was his fault. He couldn’t control the laws of time, it wasn’t like he could push a few buttons and make everything okay again. Still staring, letting tears fall from her face, Rose deeply bothered the Doctor, to the point where he had to say something.

“What, Rose? Why are you giving me that look? What have I done?”

“Why can’t you just take me back? I wouldn’t mess with anything-”

“Except for your own time line, which is strictly forbidden!”

“Why does it matter anymore, you’re-”

“Those are the laws of my people!”

“You’re the only one left!”

“Maybe that’s a good thing!”

Rose stopped and thought about what the Doctor had just shouted before quietly asking, “What is that supposed to mean?”

The Doctor sighed and replied, “Jeez, Rose, I don’t know. Sometimes I just think I’m better off on my own because everyone I come close to ends up getting hurt because of me, and-”

“Stop it.”

“And I don’t want that to happen anymore, so if being the only Time Lord alive and living a life of solitude is-”

“ _Stop it._ ”

“Is the way to keep people safe, then I‘ll do it.”

“Doctor, STOP!”

He paused before gaping at her, “ _What?_ ”

“You are so, _so_ wrong. You should never be alone. You are a wonderful man, and saying things like that will get you nowhere. I’m sorry I’ve been making you feel like this, I’ll stop, it’s just hard, because…” While Rose was talking, she was fighting back tears again. When she came to the end of her sentence, she found it impossible to keep it inside, and she started sobbing again. The Doctor wrapped her in a hug and they both cried together for a little while before the Doctor pulled away, saying, “Rose, I can’t let you stay like this.”

Confused, Rose asked, “What do you mean?”

“This… everything. You’re broken, sad, not who you used to be before… Peter.” When his name pierced the air, both of them flinched and started tearing up again, but the Doctor went on, “I have to fix this. For you, Jack, and Mickey. You need to forget.”

Rose shook her head, astonished that the Doctor would assume such a thing “How could I forget him just like that?”

“With my help.” The Doctor placed his hands on either side of Rose’s face, cradling her cheeks in his fingers, and quietly explained, “I can erase your memories of Peter, and it’ll be like he never existed. I’ll do the same to Mickey and Jack, and nobody will remember except for me. It’ll be less pain for all of us.”

Rose tore her face from the Doctor’s hands, shouting, “No! I can’t let you do that! I’ll get over this, I’m sure, I just need time-”

“No, you won’t, Rose. You’ll get worse and worse, I can see it. You’ll become a hollow being who was once filled with life but descended to an empty body because your loss was too much to handle. I can’t let you get that low. Please, Rose, let me fix this.” The Doctor was gentle with his words, coaxing Rose back to him so that he could free her of the mental prison she was building for herself.

Tears streaked Rose’s face as she held the Doctor’s hands in her own, pressing them against her cheeks and stabilizing herself. She muttered, “Please don’t forget.”

“I never would.”

“Lay flowers at his grave for me?”

“Of course.”

“Tell him I love him every day.”

“I promise.”

“Okay. I’m ready.” They were both crying, squeezing their eyes shut and holding each other close.

When Rose opened her eyes again, she saw that the Doctor had tears streaming down his face, and he was staring at her expectantly, like he was waiting for her to say something horrible.

“Doctor, are you alright? Why are you crying?”

The Doctor looked into Rose’s eyes and smiled, saying, “I’m just glad to see you’re feeling better. No more crying. You should probably take a rest, you had a pretty bad fall back there. You hit your head so hard, I don’t think you’ll remember it for a little while.”

Rose was puzzled, clearly lacking the memory of the fall she had supposedly taken, and turned without questioning the Doctor anymore to go lay down somewhere in the TARDIS. When she was gone, the Doctor set the TARDIS into motion, flying to get the flowers Rose had requested before her memory had been wiped.

The Doctor got a bouquet of forget-me-nots, sadly smiling at the little blue flowers for the forgotten boy, born in a blue box. He took them to Peter’s grave and placed them gently next to him. He stood in silence for a moment before saying, “She loves you. She misses you, and although she doesn’t know it, she wanted me to give these to you. She may not remember, but she won’t ever really forget. I think in her heart of hearts, she still knows you exist. It’s impossible to ever truly, wholly forget someone like you, Peter. I love you.”

The Doctor walked away from Peter’s grave and back towards the TARDIS. Rose was sound asleep, and when the Doctor went to check on her, she was crying again while dreaming. He felt bad for not being able to take all remnants of Peter from her mind, but like he said while he was delivering Rose’s flowers, it’s impossible to ever truly, wholly forget someone like Peter.


End file.
